®ij£  (tflmral  ftbrarj) 


PRINCETON,    N.    J. 


^ 


K 


S/^. 


SO: 


OUTLINES  OF  300  SERMONS. 


€l)c  Clerical  Ctbratg* 

THIS  series  of  volumes  is  specially  intended  for  the  clergy 
of  all  denominations,  and  is  meant  to  furnish  them  with 
stimulus  and  suggestion  in  the  various  departments  of 
their  work.  The  best  thoughts  of  the  best  religious 
writers  of  the  day  will  be  furnished  in  a  condensed  form, 
and  at  a  moderate  price. 

The  first  volume,  in  crown  8vo,  is  now  ready,  price 
$1.50,  entitled,— 

THREE  HUNDRED  OUTLINES  OF  SERMONS 
ON  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


A  UTHORS  OF  SERMONS. 


William  Alexander,  D.D., 

Bishop  of  Derry. 
Henry  Allon,  D.D.,  London. 
Alfred  Barry,  D.D., 

Canon  of  Westminster. 
G.  S.  Barrett,  B.A.,  Norwich. 
Robert  Bickersteth,  D  D  , 

Bishop  of  Ripon. 
Phillips  Brooks,  Boston. 
Wm.  M.  Taylor,  D.D., 

New  York. 
John  Cairns,  D.D.,  Edinburgh. 
Gordon  Calthrop,  M.A., 

London. 
W.  Boyd  Carpenter,  M.A., 

London. 
James  Caughey,  America. 
R.  W.  Church,  D.C.L., 

Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 
S.  Coley  (The  late),  Leeds. 
E.  R.  Conder,  M.A.,  Leeds. 
Howard  Crosby,  D.D., 

New  York. 


Bishop  Cummins,  America. 
T.  L.  Cuyler,  D.D.,  Brooklyn. 
R.  S.  Storrs,  D.D.,  Brooklyn. 
C.  H.  Spurgeon,  London. 
W.  G.T.  Shedd,  D.D.,  New  York. 
R.  W.  Dale,  D.D.,  Birmingham. 
C.  F.  Deems,  D.D.,  New  York. 
Marcus  Dods,  D.D.,  Glasgow. 
J.  T.  Duryea,  D.D.,  Boston. 
J.Oswald  Dykes,  D.D.,  London. 
John  Edmond,  D.D.,  London. 
F.  W.  Farrar,  D.D., 

Canon  of  Westminster. 
T.  C.  Finlayson,  M.A., 

Manchester. 
Donald  Fraser,  D.D.,  London. 
George  Gilfillan  (The  late\ 

Dundee. 
Albert  Goodrich,  B.  A., Glasgow. 
E.  M.  Goulburn,  D.D., 

Dean  of  Norwich. 
William  Graham,  D.  D. ,  London. 
John  Hannah,  D.D.,  Brighton. 

[See  next  pag?.\ 


Sent  on  receipt  of  price,  charges  prepaid. 


OUTLINES  OF  300  SERMONS. 


Edwin  Paxton  Hood. 
Thomas  Jones,  Swansea. 
Benjamin  Jowett,  D.D.,  Oxford. 
John  Kennedy,  D.D.,  London. 
John  Ker,  D.D.,  Edinburgh. 
G.  W.  Kitchin,  M.A.,  Oxford. 
W.  J.  Knox-Little, 

Canon  of  Worcester. 
Henry  Parry  Liddon,  D.C.L., 
Canon  of  St.  Paul's. 
J.  B.  Lightfoot,  D.D., 

Bishop  of  Durham. 
Alexander  MacAuslane,  D.D., 
London. 
James  McCosh,  D.D., 

Princeton,  New  Jersey. 
James  A.  Macdonald,  D.D., 

Princeton,  New  Jersey. 
Alexander  Maclaren,  D.D., 

Manchester. 
Hugh  Macmillan,  D.D., 

Greenock. 
W.  C.  Magee,  D.D., 

Bishop  of  Peterborough. 
Samuel  Martin  (The  late), 

Westminster. 
Walter  Morrison,  D.D., 

London. 
Joseph  Parker,  D.D.,  London. 
John  Peddie,  D.D.,  New  York. 
John  Pulsford,  Edinburgh. 


William  Pulsford,  D.D., 

Glasgow. 
W.  Morley  Punshon,  D.D.  (The 
late),  London. 
Robert  Rainy,  D.D. ,  Edinburgh. 
Alexander  Raleigh,  D.D.  (The 
late),  London. 
J.  C.  Ryle,  D.D., 

Bishop  of  Liverpool. 
Adolph  Saphir,  D.D.,  London. 
R.  Payne  Smith,  D.D., 

Dean  of  Canterbury. 
Walter  Chalmers  Smith,  D.D., 
Edinburgh. 
W.  Robertson  Smith,  M.A., 

Edinburgh. 
A.  P.  Stanley,  D.D.,  (The  late), 
Dean  of  Westminster. 
A.  C.  Tait,  D.D., 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
Frederick  Temple,  D.D  , 

Bishop  of  Exeter. 
S.  A.  Tipple,  London. 
C.  J.  Vaughan,  D.D., 

Dean  of  Llandaff. 
James  Vaughan,  M.  A.,  Brighton. 
Marvin  R.Vincent,  D.D., 

New  York. 
Henry  Wace,  M.A.,  London. 
Brooke  Foss  Westcott,  D.D., 
Canon  of  Peterborough. 


NOW   READY : 

OUTLINES    OF    SERMONS    ON    THE 
OLD    TESTAMENT. 

IN    PRESS: 

OUTLINE    SERMONS   TO   CHILDREN,    WITH 
NUMEROUS  ANECDOTES. 

The  series  will  probably  extend  to  twelve  volumes,  and  the  price 
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OUTLINES    OF    SERMONS 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


Itttagoik: 

A.    C.    ARMSTRONG    AND    SON, 

714     BROADWAY. 

1883. 

[All  rights  reserved.] 


PRIHO 
PREFATORY    NOTE. 


In  deference  to  the  wishes  of  many,  the  outlines 
in  this  volume  have  been  made  much  fuller  than 
those  in  the  previous  volume,  and  they  are  con- 
sequently fewer  in  number.  A  large  part  of  the 
book  is  here  printed  for  the  first  time,  and  the 
rest  is  almost  exclusively  from  fugitive  sources, 
very  few  of  the  outlines  having  appeared  in 
book   form. 


AUTHORS  OF   SERMONS. 


G.  S.  Barrett,  B.A.,  Norwich. 

E.  Bickersteth,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Lichfield. 

E.  H.  Browne,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Winchester. 

J.  Baldwin  Brown,  B.A.,  London. 

T.  P.  Boultbee,  LL.D.,  London. 

J.  P.  Chown,  London. 

R.  W.  Church,  D.C.L.,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 

E.  R.  Conder,  D.D.,  Leeds. 

T.  L.  Cuyler,  D.D.,  Brooklyn. 

A.  B.  Davidson,  D.D.,  Edinburgh. 

J.  Oswald  Dykes,  D.D.,  London. 

E.  Herber  Evans,  Carnarvon. 

F.  W.  Farrar,  D.D.,  Canon  of  Westminster. 
Donald  Fraser,  D.D.,  London. 

J.  G.  Greenhough,  B.A.,  Leicester. 

W.  F.  Hook.  D.D.  (The  late)  Dean  of  Chichester. 

W.  Basil  Jones,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  St.  David's. 

John  Ker,  D.D.,  Glasgow. 

Edward  King,  D.D.,  Canon  of  Christ  Church. 

J.  B.  LlGHTFOOT,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Durham. 

H.  P.  LlDDON,  D.D.,  Canon  of  St.  Paul's. 

J.  A.  Macfadyen,  D.D.,  Manchester. 

Alexander  Maclaren,  D.D.,  Manchester. 

W.  C.  Magee,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Peterborough. 

Theodore  Monod,  Paris. 

Arthur  Mursell,  Birmingham. 

Joseph  Parker,  D.D.,  London. 


AUTHORS  OF  SERMONS. 


E.  H.  Plumptre,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Wells. 

JOHN  PULSFORD,  Edinburgh. 

W.  Morley  Punshon,  D.D.  (The  late),  London. 

Robert  Rainy,  D.D.,  Edinburgh. 

Alexander  Raleigh,  D.D.  (The  late),  London. 

C.  P.  Reichel,  D.D.,  Trim,  Ireland. 

Charles  Stanford,  D.D.,  London. 

A.  P.  Stanley,  D.D.  (The  late)  Dean  of  Westminster. 

W.  M.  Statham,  B.A.,  London. 

W.  M.  Taylor,  D.D.,  New  York. 

S.  A.  Tipple,  B.A.,  London. 

H.  J.  Van  Dyke,  D.D.,  America. 

C.  J.  Vaughan,  D.D.,  London,  Dean  of  LlandafT. 

James  Vaughan,  B.A.,  Brighton,  Prebendary  of  Chichester. 

M.  R.  Vincent,  D.D.,  New  York. 

W.  J.  Woods,  B.A.,  Manchester. 

C.  WADSWORTH,  D.D.,  America. 

G.  H.  Wilkinson,  M.A.,  London,  Canon  of  Truro. 

C.  Wordsworth,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 


OUTLINES   ON   THE   OLD    TESTAMENT. 

I.     The    Creation.      Gen.    i.    i.     "In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heaven  and  the  earth.'''' 

How  familiar  to  every  child  are  these  opening  words  of 
the  Bible  ;  and  yet  how  pregnant  with  interest,  the  interest 
of  instruction,  but  also  with  the  interest  of  difficulty  to  the 
strongest  minds  !  What  is  creation  in  this  primary  biblical 
sense  of  the  term  ?  Clearly  it  is  not  mere  production  of 
any  kind.  The  natural  sense  of  the  passage  in  the  trans- 
lation, as  in  the  original,  is  that  the  universe  originally  owed 
both  its  form  and  substance  to  the  creative  fiat  of  God. 

The  Christian  Bible,  like  the  Christian,  creed,  begins  with 
stating  that  all  that  is  not  God  owes  its  being  to  the  will 
of  God.  The  Bible  solution  of  the  creation  is  the  only  one 
which  seriously  respects  the  rights,  the  existence  of  a  God. 
Pantheism  buries  Him  in  moral  filth.  The  atheistic 
materialism  denies  Him  outright.  The  other  supposition 
that  the  universe  and  God  are  both  eternal  makes  two 
Gods. 

The  Bible  doctrine  of  creation  does  not  only  protect  the 
supremacy,  the  personality,  the  sanctity,  the  reality  of  God  ; 
but  it  sheds  light  upon  His  nature  and  character. 

I.  It  illustrates  the  boundless  resourcess  of  God's  self- 
existent  life.  He  called  into  being  the  very  material 
which  He  subsequently  fashioned.  He  called  it  into  being 
out  of  nothing. 

II.  Observe  as  an  element  of  creation  the  gift  of  life, 
that  gift  which  is  in  its  essence  so  entirely  beyond  our 
power  of  analysis. 

III.  God  creates  in  majestic  and  perfect  freedom.  No 
force  was  put  upon  the  Creator.  He  made  it ;  but  He 
might  have  left  it  unmade. 

No  created  being  could  add  to  the  bliss  of  God,  none 
could  lessen  it ;  and  yet  the  Divine  love  willed  to  summon 

B 


OUTLINES   ON   THE 


a  whole  creation  into  being,  upon  which  in  its  perfectness 
and  beauty  and  even  in  its  misery  and  shame  that  love 
might  lavish  its  caresses. 

Both  in  creation  and  in  redemption  there  is  a  shadow 
which  is  a  foil  to  the  eternal  love.  His  love  burns  bright ; 
but  it  is  ever  and  anon  robed  in  mystery.  For  the  sinner 
there  .  are  gifts  superadded  to  the  gifts  of  creation  ;  the 
precious  blood  of  redemption  washing  out  all  sins  even 
the  foulest,  the  illuminating  Spirit,  the  sacraments  of  life. 
Awake  !  thou  that  sleepest,  and  as  thou  contemplatest  that 
thou  existest  and  must  exist  for  ever,  remember  that 
Christ  now  and  in  eternity  will  give  thee  light  if  only  thou 
wilt  receive  it. 

H.  P.  L. 


II.     The  Spirit  of  God.     Gen.  i.  2.     "  The  Spirit  of God 
moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters." 

It  was  not  peculiar  to  the  Hebrews  to  believe  in  spiritual 
existence.  All  nations  of  antiquity  of  whom  we  have 
certain  knowledge,  had  words  to  express  the  difference 
between  matter  and  spirit,  and  all  used  more  or  less  the 
same  metaphor  to  convey  the  thought,  namely  breath  or 
blowing.  What  fitter  metaphor  could  men  use !  The 
living,  willing  mind  of  man  they  likened  to  air ;  his  active 
energy  was  the  breathing  out.  Air  is  invisible,  but  it  is  not 
unsubstantial.  So  we  deem  of  spiritual  existences  if  we 
believe  in  them  at  all.  When  God  created  man,  He  is  said 
to  have  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life.  When 
man's  breath  goeth  forth,  he  dies,  he  gives  up  the  ghost — 
the  breath — and  his  life  principle  is  gone.  With  the  He- 
brews God  was  believed  to  be  a  spirit,  a  person,  a  unity. 
Yet  we  may  observe,  what  in  the  light  of  after  revelation  is 
most  observable,  that  whilst  the  first  verse  of  their  most 
ancient  Scriptures  teaches  that  God  is  personal  and  one, 
the  second  verse  pictures  to  us  God  sending  forth  His 
Spirit  to  brood  over  the  chaos  and  breathe  into  it  light, 
order,  and  life. 

Here  we  see  the  shadowing  out  of  a  truth  which  Chris- 
tians believe  but  of  which  the  Jews  could  only  catch  a 
glimpse,  that  God  is  over  us,  God  is  in  the  midst  of  us  and 
God  is  within  us. 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


He  who  sent  forth  His  Spirit  to  breathe  order  into 
creation,  sent  forth  His  Word  to  dwell  amongst  those,  who 
in  His  likeness  had  yet  become  likened  to  the  Evil  one. 
The  Word  wrestled  for  them  with  that  enemy  and  breathed 
forth  fresh  spiritual  life  for  those  who  would  enlist  into  His 
company. 

The  victory  is  sure,  for  inspired  by  that  Divine  Spirit  we 
can  expel  the  Evil  one  and  triumph  over  him. 

At  present  the  battle  sounds  are  loud,  but  though  the 
waters  may  prevail  upon  the  earth,  still  the  ark  floats  over 
them,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  is  moving  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters. 

E.  H.  B. 

III.     Light.     Gen.  i.  3.    "Let  there  be  light:' 

THIS  is  the  very  first  expression  which  the  Bible  contains 
of  the  Divine  Will.  It  is,  according  to  the  conception  of 
the  sacred  writer,  the  first  voice  which  broke  the  silence  of 
eternity.  It  is  a  tribute  to  the  paramount  greatness,  the 
inestimable  value  of  light  over  darkness  for  all  the  coming 
ages  of  the  world  then  first  struggling  into  existence. 

I.  This  Divine  command  is  the  keynote  of  the  whole 
Bible.  False  religions  say  "Let  there  be  darkness!"  They 
have  their  refuge  not  in  light  but  in  darkness.  But  true  re- 
ligion has  always  said,  "let  there  be  brightness  and  warmth 
and  cheerfulness,  let  there  be  openness,  and  knowledge, 
and  enlightment."  Doubtless  so  long  as  we  linger  in  this 
"  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,"  we  must  see  "  as  through 
a  glass  darkly,"  but  nevertheless  the  object  of  Revelation 
is  to  diminish  the  shadow,  to  illuminate  the  darkness  as 
far  as  possible. 

II.  Christ  was  the  light  as  well  as  the  life  of  the  world. 
One  main  purpose  of  His  work  in  the  midst  of  men  was  to 
make  them  not  children  of  the  mist,  but  children  of  the 
light. 

III.  The  last  words  of  the  Book  of  Revelation  agree  with 
the  first  words  of  Genesis  ;  describing  the  perfection  of  the 
blessed  it  says,  "  And  there  shall  be  no  night  there,  and 
they  need  no  candle,  neither  light  of  the  sun,  for  the  Lord 
God  giveth  them  light,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof. ' 

A.  P.  S. 


OUTLINES   ON  THE 


IV.     The  Creation  of  Man.    Gen.  i.  27.    "  So  God  created 
man  in  His  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  He  him." 

It  will  probably  be  found  upon  examination,  that  one 
thread  of  unbelief  runs  through  every  form  of  modern  scep- 
ticism. This  is  either  a  direct  or  a  virtual  denial  of  God's 
personality.  If  there  is  any  one  doctrine  which  is  more 
certainly  scriptural  than  another,  it  is  that  of  the  Divine 
Personality. 

I.  "  God  created  man  in  His  own  image."  It  is  not  that 
the  God  whom  we  worship  is  like  man  :  but  that  man  is 
created  in  the  likeness  of  God.  And  therefore  we  do  not 
draw  Him  down  to  us;  we  rather  seek  to  raise  ourselves  up 
to  Him. 

There  is  between  God  and  man  a  real  resemblance, 
or  rather  a  real  community  of  nature,  which  the  Bible 
announces  at  the  very  outset. 

We  may  interpret  that  image  of  God  of  which  we  read 
in  the  text,  to  be  that  which  is  distinctive  of  man  in  the 
creation,  and  that  by  which  he  comes  nearer  to  God  than 
any  other  earthly  creature. 

Man  knows  himself;  can  think,  reason,  choose,  distinguish 
between  good  and  evil,  and  love  good  rather  than  evil. 
At  this  point  he  touches  the  nature  of  God,  while  he  is  in 
these  respects  more  or  less  sharply  divided  from  the  beasts 
that  perish.  It  is  true  that  even  in  these  things  the  image 
of  God  is  partially  defaced ;  but  so  long  as  there  remains  in 
him  any  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  any  sting  of  conscience, 
his  nature  has  in  it  something  akin  to  God. 

II.  The  image  of  God  may  be  defaced  in  all,  but  it  is 
wholly  destroyed  in  none.  It  may  be  repaired  and  deve- 
loped by  careful  intellectual  and  moral  training ;  but  even 
this  will  not  suffice  for  man's  perfect  state.  For  there  is  a 
"new  creation,"  as  there  shall  be  "a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth  ; "  only  the  new  creation,  which  shall  be  consummated 
in  eternity,  is  begun  in  time,  and  "they  that  are  Christ's," 
have  here  "  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds,  and  have 
put  on  the  new  man,  which  is  renewed  in  knowledge  after 


the  imae:e  of  Him  which  created  him." 


i^> 


W.  B.  J. 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


V.     Walking  with   God.     Gen.  v.   24.     "Enoch  walked 
with  God :  and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took  him" 

IT  is  never  safe  when  you  are  reading  the  Scriptures  to 
judge  from  mere  appearances,  for  sometimes  in  the  least 
likely  places  you  will  meet  with  the  most  precious  passages. 
What  an  odour  of  refreshing  from  the  better  land  comes 
wafted  to  us  in  the  words,  "  And  he  was  not,  for  God  took 
him."  It  blossoms  here  like  a  flower  growing  in  the  crevice 
of  a  venerable  tomb,  and  just  when  we  are  becoming 
saddened  with  the  dull  refrain,  "and  he  died,"  it  lifts  our 
thoughts  to  a  life  that  is  beyond  life. 

Let  us  study  the  record,  that  we  may  be  helped  thereby 
to  earnest  holiness  on  earth  and  happy  immortality  in 
heaven.  Let  us  get  at  a  definite  idea  of  all  that  is  implied 
in  walking  with  God. 

It  describes  a  habitual  course  of  conduct,  and  not  a  mere 
isolated  act.  A  walk  is  something  more  than  a  step.  It  is 
a  way  of  life,  and  a  constant  progress  in  that  way. 

We  shall  find  underlying  the  history  which  is  summed 
up  in  these  words,  three  distinguishing  characteristics. 

I.  There  is  faith. 

He  that  walketh  with  God  must  believe  that  He  is.  We 
cannot  walk  with  an  abstraction,  and  so  we  conclude  that 
Enoch  must  have  had  a  very  real  sense  of  the  existence 
of  the  unseen  God.  He  was  to  him  as  one  continually 
by  his  side,  and  that  is  the  explanation  of  the  grandeur  of 
his  life. 

II.  There  is  fellowship  implied  in  this  experience. 

The  talk  is  the  great  feature  of  the  walk.  This  is  a 
favour  you  reserve  for  those  you  love.  And  so  when  it  is 
said  of  one  that  he  "  walks  "  with  God,  we  conclude  that  he 
and  God  are  familiar  friends.  The  fellowship  of  the  believer 
with  his  God  is  a  very  real  thing.  There  is  a  consciousness 
in  his  soul  of  God's  friendship  with  him,  a  sense  of  God's 
nearness  to  him,  and  an  experience  of  helpfulness  from 
God.  "  Thou  God  seest  me,"  is  with  him  as  it  was  with 
Hagar,  an  ejaculation  of  delight  and  gratitude  and  not  of 
dread,  for  he  knows  that  under  such  supervision  no  evil  can 
befall  him. 

III.  There  is  assimilation.  We  become  like  those  with 
whom  we  constantly  associate.     He  that  walks  with  God, 


OUTLINES   ON  THE 


shall  be  at  length  God-like.  In  the  measure  in  which  he 
walks  with  God,  he  obeys  the  precept,  "  Be  ye  holy ;  for  I 
am  holy." 

This  God-likeness  which  is  thus  associated  with  walking 
with  God  is  a  progressive  thing.  The- believer  grows  in 
holiness  through  increasing  and  prolonged  fellowship  with 
God. 

Thus  it  is  evident  that  the  man  who  walks  with  God  has 
a  peculiar  aim  in  life,  for  he  seeks  something  different  from 
that  which  is  merely  seen  and  temporal ;  that  he  has  a  new 
rule  for  life,  for  he  endeavours  to  follow  always  the  law  of 
the  Lord  ;  that  he  has  a  special  model  in  life,  for  he  desires 
likeness  to  God  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  and  that  he  has  a  strong 
support  through  life,  for  "he  endures  as  seeing  Him  who 
is  invisible,"  and  the  approval  of  God  is  more  to  him  than 
the  opinion  of  his  fellow-men. 

Where  is  this  walk  with  God  to  be  maintained  ? 

In  the  minds  of  many  it  is  particularly  associated  with 
special  religious  exercises  so  called — the  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  or  the  devotions  of  the  closet,  or  the  observance 
of  the  ordinances  of  the  sanctuary.  But  when  a  man's 
communion  with  God  is  confined  to  what  are  called  distinc- 
tively religious  duties,  it  is  not  real  communion  with  God 
even  in  them. 

This  walk  is  a  continual  thing,  and  does  not,  and  cannot, 
cease  when  the  man  rises  from  his  knees  or  closes  his 
Bible. 

Neither  is  this  experience  an  adjunct  to  a  particular  oc- 
cupation. 

The  notion  that  it  is  easier  for  a  minister  to  walk  with 
God  than  it  is  for  other  men,  is  only  a  fragment  of  that 
priestcraft  which  had  so  long  possession  of  the  minds  of 
men. 

Lastly,  consider  the  consummation  of  this  experience. 
"  Enoch  walked  with  God  :  and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took 
him,"  or  as  Hebrews  expounds  the  words,  "  He  was  trans- 
lated that  he  should  not  see  death." 

He  passed  into  heaven  as  the  saints  who  shall  be  on  the 
earth  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  will  do  ;  without  under- 
going death,  and  simply  by  receiving  that  change  which 
fitted  the  body  of  this  life  for  the  immortality  of  the  life 
that  is  to  come. 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


The  true  readiness  for  death  is  this  walking  with  God, 
and  if  we  can  but  have  Enoch's  character,  it  makes  no  dif- 
ference how  or  where  we  are  required  to  die,  for  however  it 
comes  that  will  be  unspeakable  gain,  as  introducing  us  into 
the  presence  of  the  Lord. 

W.  M.  T. 


VI.  Harvest.  Gen.  viii.  22.  "  Wfiile  the  earth  remai/ieth, 
seedtime  and  harvest,  a?id  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and 
winter,  and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease." 

This  was  God's  first  promise  to  a  pardoned  and  restored 
world,  and  if  for  this  reason  only,  that  it  recalls  this  great 
promise,  harvest-time  is  a  most  solemn  time  of  the  year. 

I.  The  harvest  carries  us  back  to  the  oldest  days  of  the 
world.  It  binds  us  all  together — the  old  world  and  the 
new — it  makes  us  feel  that  after  all  we  live  the  same  life 
at  bottom  and  depend  on  the  same  bounty  of  God  to  sus- 
tain us. 

II.  The  harvest  is  a  solemn  time,  since  it  reminds  us  of 
what  our  earthly  life  depends  upon.  In  the  year  is  grown 
the  year's  food  only,  and  the  world  each  year  literally 
depends  for  its  subsistence  on  something  which  is  newly 
given  it,  and  which  it  cannot  provide  for  itself. 

III.  It  suggests  a  time  of  trial  and  of  reckoning.  Here, 
as  in  other  things,  our  God  calls  us  to  be  fellow-workers 
with  him.  If  we  have  not  sown,  neither  shall  we  reap.  If 
we  have  sown  bad  seed,  we  shall  reap  accordingly.  When 
the  harvest-time  has  once  come,  there  is  no  opportunity  for 
mending  or  altering 

The  harvest  was  often  used  by  Christ  as  the  image  and 
likeness  of  the  judgment  of  the  world.  When  the  reapers 
are  at  work  in  the  fields,  can  you  help  thinking  of  those 
other  awful  reapers  of  whom  the  Lord  and  His  apostles 
have  told  us  ?  It  seems  almost  as  if  the  parable  of  the 
world's  judgment  was  being  acted  before  our  eyes.  Now 
is  our  sowing  time  against  that  great  harvest.  Sow  not 
the  unblessed  seed  of  selfishness  and  forgetfulness  of  God's 
benefits  and  of  a  soul  dead  to  the  wants  and  sufferings  of 
others.  Sow  not  the  wind  of  sin  and  vanity,  for  they  that 
thus  sow  shall  reap   the   whirlwind.     God    who   keeps  his 


1/ 


3  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

promise  in  the  seedtime  and  the  harvest,  will  keep  it  in  yet 
greater  things.  He  will  keep  it  in  things  eternal  who  keeps 
it  so  surely  in  the  things  of  time. 

R.  W.  C. 


VII.  Lessons  from  Lot.  Gen.  xiii.  10-12.  "And  Lot 
lifted  up  his  eyes,  and  beheld  all  the  plain  of  Jordan,  that  it  was 
well  zuate?Aed  everywhere.  Then  Lot  chose  him  all  the  plain  of 
Jordan" 

It  was  the  will  of  God  concerning  Abraham  that  he  should 
be  ultimately  isolated  from  all  his  kinsmen.  Terah  died 
in  Haran,  before  Canaan  was  reached,  and  now  he  separates 
from  his  nephew  Lot.  Up  till  this  time  Lot  was  happy 
and  prosperous,  but  his  troubles  begin  now. 

I.  Notice  the  evils  which  may  follow  from  one  wrong 
step  in  life.  Under  the  influence  of  the  love  of  this  world 
Lot  decided  his  habitation,  without  taking  the  interests  of 
his  soul  and  the  souls  of  his  household  into  account.  Let 
us  think  of  Lot  every  time  we  have  to  decide  whether  we 
shall  go  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,  and  let  us  see  to 
it  that  no  well-watered  plains  allure  us  toward  Sodom,  to 
our  soul's  detriment.  In  every  choice  we  must  take  the 
elements  of  tendency  and  direction  into  account.  Towards 
Sodom  is  ultimately  in  Sodom. 

II.  Notice  the  stealthy  insidiousness  of  sin.  There  is  a 
wide  difference  between  Abraham's  household  and  Lot's, 
but  that  difference  was  not  a  thing  of  sudden  growth.  We 
have  the  key  to  it  in  the  question  addressed  by  Lot  to  the 
angel :  Is  it  not  a  little  one  ? 

III.  Notice  the  necessity  of  watchfulness  against  sin 
throughout  one's  earthly  life.  The  noon  and  the  afternoon 
of  life  are  beset  with  dangers  as  great  as  those  of  its  morn- 
ing, and  our  only  safety  lies  in  constant  vigilance. 

We  cannot  say  much  of  Lot's  eternal  portion.  All  our 
hope  regarding  him  is  based  on  Peter's  words,  when  he 
speaks  of  him  as  a  "  righteous  "  man.  We  know  that  if 
he  did  acknowledge  his  sin  and  seek  God's  forgiveness,  that 
blessing  would  not  be  withheld. 

W.  M.  T. 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


VIII.  Prevailing  Prayer.  Gen.  xviii.  32.  u  And  he 
said,  Oh  let  not  the  Lord  be  angry,  and  I  will  speak  yet  but 
this  once:  Peradventure  ten  shall  be  found  there.  And  He 
said,  1  will  7io t  destroy  it  for  ten's  sahe.,} 

MOST  remarkable  and  most  encouraging  is  this  instance  of 
prevailing  prayer.  It  may  well  stimulate  us  to  exercise 
sublimer  faith  when  we  behold  a  mortal  thus  wrestling 
with  Omnipotence — wrestling  with  such  holy  boldness  that 
justice  suspends  its  inflictions  and  cannot  seal  the  sinners' 
doom.  Pious  men,  in  all  ages  of  the  world's  history,  are 
the  true  strength  of  the  nations  in  which  they  live ! 
Oftentimes  averting  calamity,  and  restoring  strength  and 
blessing. 

I.  Who  are  pious  men  ?  (1)  They  are  pious  who  avow- 
edly separate  themselves  from  surrounding  wickedness. 
(2)  They  are  pious  who  cultivate  firm  attachment  to  the 
doctrines  of  Christian  truth.  (3)  They  are  pious  who 
cultivate  cordial  brotherly  love.  (4)  They  are  pious  who 
endeavour  to  spread  the  Gospel  and  convert  the  wrorld. 

II.  The  effects  which  we  may  expect  to  ensue  from  such 
piety.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  text,  that  Sodom  would 
have  been  spared  if  the  ten  righteous  men  had  been  there. 
God  preserves  nations  for  the  sake  of  pious  men.  Pious 
men  will  preserve  a  land's  prosperity,  and  spiritual  pros- 
perity will  also  be  secured.  There  will  be  the  defeat  of 
erroneous  opinions,  and  truth  will  prevail.  The  salvation 
of  souls  will  be  secured  also.  The  conversion  of  a  soul  is 
an  infinitely  greater  triumph  than  the  eradication  of  a  false 
opinion.  Convert  a  man's  soul  and  his  opinions  will  come 
right  by-and-by. 

If  you  are  not  personally  pious,  you  will  be  accomplices 
in  drawing  down  the  thunderbolt  which  will  ruin  your 
country.  The  saint  and  believer  is  a  patriot  as  well  as  a 
saint.  The  worldling  may  sneer  and  scorn,  but  we  have  a 
noble  revenge,  for  it  is  pious  men  that  have  kept  the  con- 
flagrating elements  away  from  this  long-doomed  world  up 
to  the  present  moment  of  its  history.  Oh  for  the  increase 
of  these  pious  men  !  Be  you  of  the  number  of  this  unos- 
tentatious but  valiant  host. 

W.  M.  P. 


io  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

IX.     Blessing    through    Abraham's    Seed.      Gen. 

xxii.  1 8.     "And  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
be  blessed" 

The  history  of  the  whole  Church  of  God  in  every  age  lies 
in  the  promises  made  to  Abraham.  There  is  not  a  blessing 
that  any  child  of  God  under  any  subsequent  dispensation 
ever  received,  which  is  not  the  result  of  the  covenant  which 
God  made  with  Abraham.  Every  Gentile  travels  to  all  his 
mercies  through  the  Jews. 

Notice  that  even  Abraham  had  the  purpose  of  God 
respecting  the  Jews  unfolded  to  his  mind  very  gradually. 
Little  by  little  God  gave  him  revelations,  and  at  last  He 
said  :  "  And  in  thy  seed  shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
be  blessed  ; "  adding,  "  Because  thou  hast  obeyed  My 
voice."  From  this  we  gather  the  general  rule — that  a 
course  of  practical  obedience  is  the  nearest  road  to  the 
understanding  of  prophecy. 

I.  How  is  Abraham's  seed  in  its  natural  sense  the  bless- 
ing of  the  whole  world  ? 

It  was  a  "  blessing "  to  all  our  race  when  God  made 
Abraham's  seed  the  depository  of  His  truth,  committing  to 
them  His  word. 

Nobly  and  faithfully,  in  every  generation,  have  the  Jews 
done  their  work  for  the  world  in  the  guardianship  of  God's 
ancient  word. 

It  is  a  blessing,  because  in  God's  dealings  with  Israel  we 
see  warnings  for  our  instruction  and  our  peace.  Again,  it 
is  a  blessing  because  Gentile  Christians  are  indebted  to  the 
Jews  for  whatever  spiritual  privileges  they  enjoy.  Again, 
the  present  state  of  the  Jews  should  be  regarded  as  the 
great  standing  evidence  of  the  truth  of  revelation. 

II.  How  is  Abraham's  seed  in  its  spiritual  sense  the 
blessing  of  the  world  ?  God  had  a  particular  intention 
when  He  made  the  promise  to  run  in  the  singular,  and  not 
in  the  plural  number,  and  that  He  said,  "  Not  in  thy  seeds, 
as  of  many,  but  in  thy  seed."  The  Lord  Jesus  was  the 
"  Seed  "  in  which  all  nations  receive  blessing.  It  is  an 
argument  of  deep  consolation  to  know  that  the  nature  of 
the  great  Elder  Brother  places  Him  in  fellowship  with  our 
bodily  trials — that  He  is  still  a  man,  "  Abraham's  Seed." 
Through  Christ  we  become  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  and 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


there  is  not  a  prophecy  of  love  of  which  I  may  not  say, 
"  It  is  mine  because  I  am  Abraham's  seed." 

J.V. 


X.     In  the  way.     Gen.  xxiv.  27.     " I  being  in  the  way,  the 
Lord  led  mc." 

This  chapter  is  full  of  beautiful  things,  but  the  words  of 
the  text  are  its  brightest  gem.  It  is  only  when  we  are  in 
a  certain  way  that  we  have  a  right  to  expect  that  God  will 
lead  us  ;  and,  even  in  that  way,  there  is  only  one  kind  of 
leading  that  we  are  warranted  to  look  for. 

I.  The  Way. 

(1)  This  servant  Eliezer  was  evidently  in  the  way  of  duty. 
He  had  accepted  a  commission  from  his  master,  and 
thus  far  he  had  faithfully  followed  the  instructions  he  had 
received.  It  was  not,  therefore,  until  he  had  done  all  that 
he  could,  that  he  awaited  the  guidance  of  Jehovah.  Now 
in  all  this  there  is  much  to  direct  us,  for  the  way  to  get 
more  light  is  to  follow  fully  that  which  we  already  possess. 
This  applies  to  intellectual  doubt,  and  when  we  are  per- 
plexed as  to  the  truth  of  great  doctrines  ;  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  the  path  to  peace  lies  through  the  perform- 
ance of  those  duties  in  regard  to  which  we  are  already 
certain.  Ask,  "  Is  my  conduct  abreast  of  my  conscience,  or 
am  I  living  below  even  that  standard  which  I  have  accep- 
ted ?"  Let  a  man  hold  fast  by  those  things  which  are  yet 
certain  to  him,  and  faithfully  and  earnestly  act  up  to  them, 
for  it  is  by  these  that  God  will  ultimately  lift  him  out  and 
set  his  feet  upon  the  rock  of  faith.  The  same  thing  is  true 
in  reference  to  conduct.  When  in  our  daily  lives  we  are 
brought  to  a  stand  and  see  no  outlet,  then  if  we  are  where 
we  are  because  we  have  been  faithfully  doing  what  we 
believed  to  be  right,  let  us  stand  still  and  wait,  assured 
that  God  will  open  up  our  way.  It  makes  all  the  differ- 
ence in  the  world  as  to  matters  of  conduct,  whether  we  arc 
simply  seeking  our  own  gain,  our  own  pleasure,  our  own 
honour,  or  whether  we  are  striving  to  meet  the  obligation 
which  God  has  laid  upon  us. 

In  the  former  case  we  have  no  right  to  expect  God's 
guidance  ;  in  the  latter,  we  may  be  sure  that  it  will  not  be 


12  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

withheld.  Cultivate  then  the  habit  of  walking  in  the  way 
of  duty,  and  you  will  find  it  a  way  of  light.  It  is  when 
you  want  an  excuse  for  evading  duty  that  anxiety  begins. 

(2)  This  servant  was  in  the  way  of  faith.  He  had  a 
firm,  child-like,  and  sincere  belief  in  God.  God  was  to  him 
a  real  personal  Being,  as  interested  in  the  success  of  his 
mission  as  he  was,  and  able  to  help  him  in  his  present 
emergency. 

Now  we  do  not  wonder  that  such  an  one  was  guided. 
We  may,  perhaps,  find  the  secret  of  our  harassments  and 
daily  worries  in  the  fact  that  to  most  of  us  God  is  little 
better  than  a  mere  abstraction. 

Unbelief  is  at  the  root  of  our  worry.  If  we  had  the 
same  faith  as  this  Oriental  servant  we  should  be  very 
seldom  in  difficulty,  and  when  we  were  we  should  be  willing 
to  wait  peacefully  and  trustfully  for  His  guidance. 

(3)  This  servant  was  in  the  way  of  prayer.  That  follows 
from  what  has  been  remarked  of  his  faith,  but  there  is 
a  plain,  direct,  earnest  purpose  in  his  supplication  which 
is  most  striking.  He  even  specifies  the  way  in  which  he 
wishes  his  prayer  to  be  answered.  This  man  was  a  child 
and  therefore  he  spoke  as  a  child  and  was  answered  in  a 
style  which  he  could  understand.  As  compared  with  the 
weakest  Christian,  Eliezer  was  but  as  a  child  is  to  a  full- 
grown  man.  This  request  of  his  was  born  of  trust  in  God, 
and  not  of  suspicion  of  God  ;  and  therefore,  being  a  real 
application  to  Him,  it  was  answered  by  Him. 

While  we  may  well  hesitate  to  present  our  petitions  in 
such  a  form  as  this,  we  may  be  encouraged  from  the  answer 
which  even  this  prayer  received,  to  go  to  God  in  every 
perplexity. 

This  servant  went  to  the  very  root  of  his  anxiety.  He 
did  not  ask  for  blessings  a  long  way  ahead,  but  said, 
"Give  me  good  speed  this  day,"  and  having  unburdened 
his  heart,  he  waited  God's  answer.  So  it  should  be  with  us. 
When  a  man  is  in  earnest  he  will  take  the  shortest  way  of 
telling  his  distress. 
"   II.  The  leading  of  God,  when  we  are  in  the  way. 

This  leading  is  to  be  looked  for  by  us,  in  and  through 
God's  ordinary  providence. 

Through  natural  law  and  common-place  incidents  God 
is  leading  His  people  to-day,  as  really  as  He  led  Israel  by 


OLD   TESTAMENT,  13 

the  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire.  If  you  are  in  the  way  of  duty, 
of  faith,  and  of  prayer,  be  sure  that  somehow,  through  the 
common  incidents  of  a  common  day,  He  will  guide  your 
feet  into  the  right  path.  How  near  this  brings  God  to  us  ! 
How  sacred,  too,  in  this  aspect  of  them,  do  the  events  of 
our  lives  become  !  They  are  new  revelations  of  God  to 
us,  and  we  too,  have,  like  these  old  patriarchs,  our  Hebrons, 
and  Bethels,  and  Peniels,  and  Moriahs.  Let  us  go  on  in 
this  faith,  and  we  shall  feel  our  hearts  lightened  as  we  sing, 
"  The  steps  of  a  good  man  are  ordered  of  the  Lord." 

W.  M.  T. 


XI.  Jacob's  Dream.  Gen.  xxviii.  12.  "  And 'he  dreamed, 
and  behold  a  ladder  set  up  on  the  earth,  and  the  top  of  it  reached 
to  heaven." 

So  wonderfully  rich  is  this  singular  passage  that  it  would 
be  unwise  to  seek  to  exhaust  it.  Let  us  look  at  the  most 
luminous  points  in  the  narrative  and  not  seek  to  reach  the 
intermediate  parts,  which  lie  deeper  and,  perhaps,  beyond 
us.  The  transactions  are  recorded  in  the  history  of  a  man, 
of  all  the  patriarchs  perhaps  most  like  ourselves. 

I.  Notice  the  circumstances  in  which  this  part  of  Jacob's 
history  took  place. 

It  was  when  he  was  setting  out  in  life  and  leaving  his 
home  for  the  first  time. 

And  whatever  consoling  power  this  vision  and  history 
has,  it  has  it  especially  to  the  young  on  the  threshold  of 
life,  when  they  are  taking  the  first  step  on  the  dark  un- 
known road  of  activity,  which  we  call  living, — to  all  such 
going  out  into  life  is  this  vision  sent. 

Or  when  one  no  longer  young  is  now  for  the  first  time 
taking  on  him  the  part  he  is  fitted  to  play  in  life,  and  at 
last  awakening  to  the  duty  of  doing  God's  work  in  the 
world,  this  vision  comes  to  such  with  strong  encourage- 
ment. 

And  there  are  many  others  of  those  who  have  already 
entered  on  life,  who  also  are  entitled  to  take  encourage- 
ment from  this  vision,  not  now  to  begin,  but  to  carry  on 
life.  For  few  there  are  who  on  looking  back  will  feel 
satisfied  with  the  past.     And  with  the  memory  of  former 


14  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

difficulties  and  falls  that  is  painful,  there  is  a  need  of  en- 
couragement, and  this  encouragement  is  to  be  found  in  this 
vision  given  to  the  lonely  patriarch. 

II.  Jacob's  dream.  His  dream  was  not  a  baseless  fabric 
like  our  own,  but  a  vision  sent  him  from  God.  What 
Jacob  saw  was  not  some  new  thing  created  to  be  shown  to 
Jacob,  it  was  something  already  there  which  Jacob  was 
enabled  to  see.  He  knew  it  to  be  a  real  thing,  the  only 
wonder  was  the  opening  of  his  eyes  to  see  it.  These  things 
Jacob  saw  are  always  to  be  seen — they  are  real  things  if  we 
had  but  eyes  to  see  them.  This  ladder  always  exists,  it 
always  binds  earth  and  heaven  together.  Jehovah  is  always 
standing  at  the  head  of  it.  Angels  are  always  crowding 
up  and  down  upon  it,  ministering  to  them  who  shall  be 
heirs  of  salvation. 

Does  not  it  often  seem  to  us — to  us  who  want  the  eyes 
to  see  what  Jacob  saw — that  there  is  no  communion  be- 
tween earth  and  heaven — that  God  is  far  away — that  no 
cry  or  influence  of  ours  can  ascend,  and  no  help  can  come 
down  ? 

Jacob,  no  very  young  man  at  this  time,  calls  such  a 
period  the  day  of  his  distress.  .  His  distress  was  chiefly 
made  up  of  the  feeling  of  being  alone  in  the  world,  and  of 
the  feeling  that  he  had  now  taken  himself  in  charge,  and 
must  think  and  resolve  for  himself,  and  fight  his  own 
battles  henceforth,  and  meet  foes  he  was  little  able  to  cope 
with. 

God  meets  him  with  these  words  of  encouragement :  "  I 
will  keep  thee  in  all  places  whither  thou  goest."  What 
strange  sights  a  little  faith  helps  us  to  see,  how  it  transforms 
the  complexion  of  the  world,  how  it  helps  our  eyesight  to 
pierce  through  the  veils  that  are  hung  across  the  face  of 
things  and  see  marvellous  things  beyond ! 

Till  God  opens  our  eyes  we  see  little. 

This  wanderer  thought  the  wilderness  a  weary,  God- 
abandoned  spot.  God  opened  his  eyes,  and  he  found  him- 
self lying  at  the  gate  of  heaven.  And  we  think  the  earth 
far  from  God,  and  our  life  lonely  and  ourselves  unheeded, 
while,  if  we  would  but  look,  heaven  is  opened,  and  God 
standing  looking  down  in  unspeakable  love  upon  us. 

III.  The  vision  itself.  Jacob  felt  lonely  and  he  felt 
weak  ;  and  when  the  darkness  came  down,  his  heart  filled 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


15 


with  sensations  he  had  never  known  before.  And  God 
used  the  thoughts  that  had  been  working  all  day  in  his 
mind  to  attach  His  revelation  to.  This  is  the  way  in  which 
revelation  generally  came.  It  came  in  such  a  way  that  it 
seemed  to  grow  out  of  the  mind  of  the  prophet  who  gave 
it.  Like  any  other  weary  and  troubled  man,  Jacob  dreamed, 
and  kis  dream  was  woven  out  of  the  materials  that  had  all 
day  long  been  troubling  his  spirit. 

The  vision  is  described  in  words  that  express  the  sim- 
ple but  extreme  wonder  of  the  seer.  He  dreamed,  and 
beJwld  a  ladder,  and  behold  the  angels,  and  behold  the  Lord. 
Wonder  after  wonder  unfolds  itself.  And  then  a  voice 
comes  rolling  down  the  steps  :  "  I  am  the  Lord  God  of 
Abraham  thy  father."  As  to  the  ladder's  appearance,  we 
need  not  enquire  ;  the  truth  taught  was  the  connection  of 
earth  and  heaven,  the  nearness  of  heaven  to  earth,  and  the 
close  and  rapid  intercourse  between  the  two.  The  Lord 
was  very  visible  ;  He  was  so  near  that  His  whisper  could 
be  heard  down  from  above,  so  lowly  are  the  heavens,  so 
closely  do  all  heavenly  things  brood  over  and  embrace  the 
earth. 

All  that  was  revealed  to  Jacob  was  that  there  was  a 
ladder — a  way  to  heaven;  at  least  a  way,  however  steep 
and  narrow.  To  us  it  has  been  shown  Who  the  way  is. 
Christ  said  to  Nathanael,  "  Hereafter  ye  shall  see  heaven 
open  and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending 
upon  the  Son  of  Man.  I  am  the  Way  :  no  man  cometh  unto 
the  Father  but  by  Me."  Lying  at  the  foot  ol  this  Ladder  we 
have  visits  of  the  angels  ;  lifting  up  our  eyes  we  see  the 
Lord  standing  looking  upon  us  in  love  and  hear  Him 
speaking  to  us. 

Notice  the  attitude  and  words  of  Jehovah  Himself.  He  is 
standing,  attitude  of  interest.  He  is  looking  down,  attitude 
of  sympathy  and  knowledge,  bending  over  His  sleeping 
child. 

But  Jehovah's  sympathy  is  not  exhausted  with  silence  : 
He  speaks,  He  introduces  Himself  to  Jacob,  and  with 
marvellous  humanity.  "I  am  the  God  of  thy  father."  Jacob 
was  loved  for  Abraham's  sake.  This  is  a  great  mystery, 
but  God  loves  us  for  our  father's  sake.  The  children  of 
God's  people  are  from  their  birth  under  the  peculiar  love  of 
God.     Jehovah's  promise  to  Jacob  is  twofold  :  a  promise 


1 6  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

of  salvation,  and  a  promise  of  guidance  in  life's  journey. 
Jacob  stipulated  for  bread  to  eat  and  raiment  to  put  on, 
for  outward  help.  But  then  such  was  the  relation  between 
God  and  these  early  simple  men,  that  these  outward  things 
were  the  symbols  and  assurances  of  things  far  deeper. 

IV.  Jacob's  response  to  God's  offers.  ]s^ 

Jacob  vowed  a  vow.  He  responded  to  this  marvellous 
vision.  He  made  a  resolution,  a  determination.  Religion 
needs  this.  Particularly  in  beginning  life  this  is  needful. 
We  need  to  resolve  firmly  that  the  Lord  shall  be  our  God — 
not  business,  not  pleasure,  not  affection — the  Lord.  Jacob 
also  set  up  a  stone.  He  made  the  inner  resolution,  and 
having  taken  it,  he  also  set  to  this  strange  outward  seal  of 
it.  And  it  is  well  to  commit  ourselves  to  a  godly  life — to 
let  others  into  the  secret  of  our  vow.  It  is  well,  too,  for 
others,  to  set  up  our  outward  sign  of  finding  God  ;  to  strew 
the  world  over  with  monuments  of  God's  presence  and 
grace. 

For  there  are  always  men  in  the  world  seeking  after  God, 
and  often  wearied  and  disheartened  by  the  search.  How 
cheering  to  some  such  wanderer  it  would  have  been  to  find 
such  a  monument  as  Jacob  reared  ! 

The  Lord,  after  years  had  gone  by,  and  the  fervour  of 
Jacob's  purpose  began  to  fade,  commanded  him  to  return 
to  Bethel,  to  renew  old  memories.  And  at  the  sight  of 
Bethel  he  grew  young  again.  The  crust,  the  hardness  put 
upon  him  by  life  fell  off,  and  he  was  softened  by  these  old 
memories,  and  he  shook  off  habits  that  were  tightening 
themselves  about  him,  and  became  again  as  of  old,  reso- 
lutely the  Lord's.  And  so  let  us  do  !  Keep  our  Bethels  in 
mind — live  over  again  the  feelings — it  will  keep  the  world 
from  bearing  in  upon  us,  and  sin  from  gaining  the  mastery 
over  us. 

A.  B.  D. 

XII.  Hindrances  to  Faith.  Gen.  xxviii.  15.  "Behold, 
I  am  with  thee,  and  will  keep  thee  in  all  places  whither  thou 
goest,  and  will  bring  thee  again  into  this  land :  for  I  will  not 
leave  thee  until  I  have  done  that  which  I  have  spoken  to  thee 
of-" 

A  BELIEF  in   God  is  more  effectual  for  man's  happiness 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


than  all  the  flowers  of  Paradise,  and  we  can  all  help  in  the 
maintenance  of  the  belief  in  God. 

All  those  who  are  conscious  of  moral  freedom,  and  all 
who  know  themselves  to  be  persons  and1  not  things,  not 
mere  machines,  but  men  endowed  with  the  awful  dower  of 
personality,  we  would  ask  to  help  in  this  maintenance  of 
belief.  What  are  some  of  the  hindrances  and  difficulties 
that  you  will  meet  with,  if  you  endeavour  by  a  life  of  daily 
duty,  to  give  the  evidence  of  your  moral  feeedom,  and  of 
your  separate  personality  in  the  midst  of  the  great  forces 
in  which  you  live  ? 

I.  The  feeling  of  your  own  littlenesss.  One  has  said, 
"  Two  things  fill  me  with  awe  ;  the  starry  firmament,  and 
the  responsibility  of  man."  We  so  often  trifle  with  our 
powers  of  thought,  and  consider  the  powers  that  make  up 
our  separate  personality  so  insignificant,  that  their  littleness 
fills  us  with  awe.  But  God  made  us,  and  He  made  us  for 
Himself.  That  feeling  of  weakness  is  but  a  right  con- 
sciousness of  true  creaturely  dependence.  All  we  have  to 
do  is  to  awaken  like  Jacob,  from  a  dream,  and  admit  that 
this  world  is  still  the  House  of  God  :  that  the  Lord  is  in 
this  place,  though  we  knew  it  not. 

II.  Another  hindrance  is  your  sense  of  sin.  The  sense 
of  duty,  more  or  less,  in  all  of  us,  must  produce  the  con- 
sciousness of  disobedience.  God  did  not  refuse  to  be  with 
Jacob  though  he  had  sinned,  and  His  presence  preserved 
him  from  further  sin;  his  old  sin  was  constantly  before  him, 
but  it  never  overcame  him.  It  gave  him  suffering  and 
trouble,  but  it  did  not  rob  him  of  God's  continuing  presence. 
The  fear  of  the  past  need  not  rob  you  of  the  hope  that  you 
may  yet  give  your  life  as  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the 
one  true  God. 

III.  Another  difficulty  is  the  sense  of  singleness  which 
arises  from  personality.  No  two  lives  can  follow  exactly 
in  the  same  steps.  The  text  offers  the  consolation  of  a 
personal  presence,  and  again  the  Son  of  God  has  promised 
to  be  with  us  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

E.  K. 


1 3  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

XIII.     Jacob  at  Bethel.     Gen.   xxviii.    16.     "Surely  the 
Lord  is  in  this  place,  and  1  knew  it  not." 

The  site  of  Bethel  is  described  as  an  unimpressive  scene, 
with  nothing  whatever  to  attract  the  eye  or  fire  the 
imagination.  Yet  this  was  none  other  than  the  House  of 
God,  this  was  the  gate  of  heaven.  Why  should  this  one 
spot  be  chosen  to  plant  the  foot  of  the  ladder  which  con- 
nected heaven  and  earth  ? 

The  paradox  of  Bethel  is  the  paradox  of  the  Gospel — is 
the  paradox  of  God's  spiritual  dispensations  at  all  times 
The  Incarnation  itself  was  the  supreme  manifestation  of 
this  paradox.  Look  at  the  accompaniments  of  the  Incar- 
nation. Could  any  environment  of  circumstances  well  have 
been  imagined  more  incongruous,  more  alien  to  this  unique 
event  in  human  history  !  And  the  same  paradox  which 
ruled  the  foundation  of  the  Church  extended  also  to  its 
building  up. 

So  then  in  its  accompaniments,  not  less  than  in  its  main 
idea,  this  incident  at  Bethel  is  a  type  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  This  exile  prefigures  a  greater  outcast,  the  whole 
family  of  man.  This  ladder  reared  up  from  earth  to  heaven 
is  the  Incarnation  of  the  Eternal  Word.  To  those  whose 
sight  is  purged  by  faith,  to  those  who  are  gifted  with  the 
eye  of  the  spirit,  the  vision  of  Bethel  will  be  vouchsafed 
with  a  far  more  exceeding  glory  :  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  you,  hereafter  ye  shall  see  heaven  open  and  the  angels 
of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of  Man  :  " 
and  on  thyself  too,  man,  for  thou  art  one  with  this  Son  of 
Man,  one  with  the  Father  in  Him. 

If  the  capacity  of  vision  be  absent,  then  the  heavens  are 
riven  asunder  and  the  glory  streams  forth  in  vain.  Only  the 
cold  bare  stones  beneath,  only  the  midnight  gloom  over- 
head, these  alone  are  visible  otherwise.  To  realize  God's 
presence,  to  hear  God's  voice,  let  this  be  the  aim  and 
discipline  of  our  lives.  So  at  length  we  shall  pass  from 
Bethel  to  Peniel,  from  the  palace  courts  to  the  presence 
chamber.  We  shall  see  God  face  to  face.  The  blessing  is 
won  at  length  by  that  long  lonely  wrestling  under  the  mid- 
night sky.  The  fraud,  the  worldlincss,  the  self-seeking,  is 
thrown  off  like  a  slough  ;  all  is  changed  and  old  things  have 
passed  away.  J.  B.  L. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  19 


XIV.  Mysterious  Providences.     Gen.  xlii.  36.     "All 

these  things  are  against  me." 

Jacob  was  indeed  brought  low  when  he  could  speak  thus ; 
and  though  we  may  not  vindicate  him  for  murmuring,  we 
understand  his  state  of  heart  too  well  to  upbraid  him  for 
giving  way  to  his  grief.  But  natural  as  this  outgush  of 
feeling  was,  we  cannot  but  observe  that  it  was  essentially 
atheistic.  He  makes  no  mention  of  God  in  his  exclama- 
tion.    He  had  for  the  time  forgotten  Bethel's  God. 

This  sentiment  was  also  quite  untrue.  These  things  were 
really  working  for  his  good.  We  all  feel  that  there  are  times 
when  we  are  prone  to  fall  into  this  despair.  Let  us  see 
what  considerations  we  may  draw  from  the  Book  or  from 
our  experience,  wherewith  we  may  fortify  ourselves  against 
this  temptation. 

I.  We  have  the  unqualified  assurance  that  God  is  the 
Friend  of  His  people,  directing  and  controlling  all  things 
for  their  highest  good. 

II.  We  have  the  evidence  of  God's  love  to  us,  in  the 
death  of  His  Son  on  our  behalf. 

III.  We  have  the  testimony  of  many  of  God's  people 
to  the  fact  that  the  things  in  their  lots  apparently  hardest 
were  after  all  the  most  blessed  to  them. 

There  can  be  no  strength  without  strain,  and  the  very 
wrestle  of  our  soul  with  difficulty,  when  we  wrestle  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God,  leaves  behind  it  a  residuum  of  re- 
serve power. 

Let  God  finish  His  work,  and  when  you  too  can  see  the 
end  from  the  beginning,  you  will  not  need  that  any  one 
should  vindicate  His  ways  to  you,  and  you  will  see  that 
none  of  these  things  were  against  you. 

W.  M.  T. 

XV.  Stability.      Gen.  xlix.  4.      "  Unstable  as  water,  thou 

shalt  not  excel." 

Jacob's  first-born  son  seems  to  have  been  distinguished  by 
levity  of  spirit,  weakness  of  will,  and  fickleness  of  dispo- 
sition. He  was  not  an  out-and-out  bad  man.  He  at  first 
meant  to  do  right,  but  between  the  purpose  and  the  per- 
formance other  things  intervened,  and  so  he  seldom  carried 
out  his  intention  and  never  attained  eminence. 


20  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

It  is  remarkable  too,  that  the  same  characteristic  re- 
appears in  the  Reubenites,  who  were  distinguished  for 
nothing  but  their  poor  mediocrity.  No  men  of  eminence 
or  influence  sprang  from  that  tribe  during  the  long  course 
of  Jewish  history. 

But  apart  altogether  from  their  reference  to  one  of  the 
tribes  of  Israel,  the  words  of  the  text  enunciate  a  general 
law  which  holds  good  in  every  age  of  the  world  and  in 
every  department  of  life.  Wherever  there  is  fickleness 
you  may  say  with  infallible  certainty  to  the  man  who  is 
characterized  by  it,  "  Thou  shalt  not  excel." 

And  if  we  are  flippant,  fickle  and  unsteady,  we  may  never 
hope  to  rise  to  true  Christian  excellence.  If  we  vibrate 
between  principle  and  passion,  or  change  from  acting  now 
as  the  sons  of  God  to  acting  again  as  the  children  of  the 
world,  we  shall  never  become  eminent,  as  Christians,  but 
may,  even  like  Reuben,  be  deprived  of  our  birthright  or, 
like  his  descendants  settle  down  on  the  wrong  side  of 
Jordan,  and  short  of  the  Land  of  Promise. 

I.  Foremost  among  the  elements  of  Christian  stability 
is  a  perception  of  the  supreme  importance  of  the  Christian 
life.  If  we  once  get  that  firmly  rooted  in  our  hearts,  then, 
naturally,  we  will  give  ourselves  entirely  to  its  attainment. 
How  are  we  to  obtain  such  a  conviction  of  the  pre-emin- 
ence of  Christian  holiness  ?  It  is  by  earnest  investigation 
of  the  subject  itself.  Let  any  man  seriously  set  himself  to 
ponder  the  statements  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  he  will  be 
led  to  see  that  if  there  is  anything  in  them  at  all,  every- 
thing is  in  them,  and  they  must  be  entirely  put  aside,  or 
everything  else  must  be  put  aside  for  them  and  made 
subordinate  to  them. 

II.  A  second  element  in  Christian  stability  is  strength 
of  will  to  turn  aside  from  all  those  things  which  are  incon- 
sistent with  the  attainment  of  the  excellence  we  seek. 

The  Christian  must  resolutely  set  himself  to  refuse  all 
enticements  to  the  commission  of  sin,  and  endeavour  so  to 
keep  his  worldly  business  within  bounds  that  attention  to 
it  shall  not  hinder  his  progress  in  holiness.  This  firmness 
of  will  is  to  be  acquired  by  prayerful  exertion.  We  have 
only  to  begin  to  resist  and  to  go  on  resisting  until  by  the 
strength  of  God's  Spirit  the  habit  is  acquired  by  us.  Mark, 
it  must  be  prayerful  exertion.     Prayerful,  because  it  is  only 


OLD   TESTAMENT. 


21 


in  God's  strength  that  we  can  acquire  it  ;  exertion,  because 
it  is  only  through  the  forth-putting  of  our  own  efforts  that 
God  will  strengthen  us.  "  Work  out  your  own  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you, 
to  will  and  to  do  of  His  good  pleasure."  God  works  in 
us,  but  the  willing  and  the  doing  are  our  own,  and  so  it  is 
only  in  the  union  of  prayer  and  effort  that  we  can  obtain 
strength  of  will. 

III.  Another  element  of  Christian  steadfastness  is  con- 
centration of  soul. 

This  may  seem  identical  with  what  has  been  specified 
before,  but  there  is  a  difference  between  them. 

A  man  may  shut  out  all  external  intrusion,  while  yet  he 
may  lose  all  benefit  of  this  seclusion  by  allowing  his  mind 
to  wander  in  a  fantastic  day-dream  instead  of  chaining  it 
to  some  particular  topic.  He  may  have  a  merely  negative 
excellence,  and  may  be  remarkable  more  for  the  absence 
of  evil  than  for  the  presence  of  positive  holiness. 
_  Hence  we  must  not  only  strive  to  keep  our  souls  from 
sin,  but  also  seek  to  centre  them  on  the  attainment  of  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  perfect  man  in  Christ  Jesus 
as  the  great  end  of  our  being.  Holiness  is  a  character  ;  it 
is  not  doing  but  being.  Religion  is  a  growing  in  holiness, 
and  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  religious  services.  You 
cannot  indeed  be  always  engaged  in  what  are  commonly 

called  religious  exercises  ;  but  a  man  may  be  religious 

growing  in  holiness— in  his  shop,  in  the  market,  at  his  fire- 
side, aswell  as  in  the  church  and  at  the  table  of  the  Lord. 
There  is  a  holy  and  an  unholy  way  of  doing  even  the 
simplest  and  commonest  things,  and  the  man  who  has  the 
concentration  of  soul  here  spoken  of,  will  seek  always  to 
take  the  holy  method. 

This  concentration  is  to  be  acquired  by  prayerful,  per- 
sonal exertion. 

Think  of  Christ  in  everything,  and  let  everything  you  do 
be  offered  up  in  loving  sacrifice  to  Him. 

If  this  be  not  done,  the  great  uniting  bond  which  makes 
your  life  a  harmonious  whole  will  be  broken,  recklessness 
will  characterize  your  career,  and  when  men  come  to  write 
your  history  they  will  do  it  in  the  words  of  the  text,  "  Un- 
stable as  water,  he  did  not  excel." 

W.  M.  T. 


22  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

XVI.     The    Secret    of  Trust.     Gen.    1.    20.     "But  as 

for  you,  ye  thought  evil  against  me :  but  God  meant  it  unto 
good,  to  bring  to  pass,  as  it  is  this  day,  to  save  much  people 
alive" 

Wp:  cannot  but  admire  the  conduct  of  Joseph  in  this 
remarkable  interview.  He  had  learned  to  look  at  his 
whole  life  in  the  light  of  God's  Providence,  and  in  his  resig- 
nation to  that  he  found  it  easy  to  forgive  his  brethren. 
"  Ye  thought  evil  against  me :  but  God  meant  it  unto 
good." 

Here  is  the  "open  secret"  of  that  marvellous  equanimity 
which  is  so  characteristic  of  his  demeanour.  He  traced 
God's  hand  in  every  incident  of  his  history.  He  accepted 
the  lot  which  God  assigned  him,  and  wherever  he  was  he 
had  the  unfaltering  conviction  that  "  God  meant  it  unto 
good."  If  we  had  the  same  trust  in  the  wise  and  loving 
arrangements  of  an  all-superintending  God,  we,  too,  might 
continue  peaceful  amid  all  the  changes  and  surprises  of  our 
unsettled  and  fleeting  lives. 

I.  Tl  e  Providence  of  God  preserves  and  controls  all  the 
operations  of  the  physical  universe  and  all  the  actions  of 
moral  agents. 

As  the  shorter  catechism  has  succinctly  expressed  it, 
"  It  is  most  holy,  wise  and  powerful,  preserving  and  govern- 
ing all  His  creatures  and  all  their  actions."  That  there 
is  such  a  thing  is  clearly  taught  in  the  Word  of  God,  is 
matter  of  daily  observation,  and  follows  naturally  and  neces- 
sarily from  the  very  fact  of  creation.  That  which  could 
be  produced  alone  by  the  will  of  the  Omnipotent  can  be 
maintained  and  regulated  only  by  the  same  volition. 
Hence,  unless  we  are  prepared  to  adopt  the  ancient  doc- 
trine of  the  eternity  of  things  as  they  are,  we  must  accept 
that  of  the  all-sustaining  and  all-governing  Providence. 
"Of  Him,  and  to  Him,  and  through  Him,  are  all  things.' 
"  By  Him  all  things  consist." 

II.  The  Providence  of  God  is  universal,  having  respect 
to  every  atom  of  creation  and  every  incident  of  life. 

There  are  some,  however,  who  conceive  it  to  be  deroga- 
tory to  the  greatness  of  God  that  he  should  interest  Him- 
self in  minute  details.  There  are  two  obvious  answers  to 
this. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  23 

(1)  There  can  be  no  perfection  without  the  arrangement 
of  details. 

(2)  Small  things  are  often  the  hinges  on  which  the  most 
momentous  matters  turn,  and  it  is  therefore  impossible  to 
overrule  the  greater  without  taking  cognizance  also  of  the 
less. 

III.  This  universal  Providence  is  carried  on  in  harmony 
with  those  modes  of  operation  which  we  call  natural  laws. 
We  shall  not  here  attempt  to  explain  how  the  Providence 
of  God  is  so  carried  on  as  to  be  a  controlling  and  governing 
thing,  while  yet  it  does  not  infringe  on  the  moral  freedom 
of  man.  That  it  is  so  carried  on  is  plainly  taught  in  the 
Scriptures  and  confirmed  by  experience.  It  is  necessary 
to  notice  particularly  that  the  actions  of  men,  as  well  as 
the  operations  of  natural  law,  are  under  the  control  of  God, 
because  it  is  in  reference  to  the  moral  sphere  of  Providence 
that  the  faith  of  most  of  us  is  weakest.  How  often,  for 
example,  one  is  tempted  to  say,  when  a  fellow-man  has 
deliberately  injured  him,  "If  it  had  been  a  visitation  of 
God  I  could  have  borne  it."  Now,  of  course  there  is  an 
immense  difference  between  what  God  does  directly  and 
what  He  simply  permits  others  to  do,  yet  the  fact  that  the 
actions  so  permitted  by  Him  are  wrought  into  His  plan 
of  our  lives  ought  surely  to  have  some  importance  in  our 
view,  and  we  should  seek,  like  Joseph  here,  to  trace  the 
goodness  of  His  overruling  hand  and  to  forgive  those  who 
have  injured  us. 

IV.  God's  Providence  is  carried  on  for  moral  and  religious 
ends.  This  will  be  at  once  allowed  so  far  as  the  sphere  of 
spiritual  things  is  concerned.  But  we  find  that  the  primal 
curse  was,  "  Thou  shalt  surely  die,"  and  in  that,  physical 
was  connected  with  moral  evil.  So  in  God's  dealings  with 
Israel  we  find  that  physical  calamity  came  as  the  punish- 
ment of  their  iniquity.  God's  Providence  is  conducted 
now  on  the  same  principles  as  it  was  then,  and  we  must 
still  expect  that  moral  evil  will  be  attended  by  physical 
calamity.  Thus  in  the  universe  of  God  the  moral  and  the 
physical  go  hand  in  hand  and  still  the  law  is  vindicated 
in  morals,  as  in  the  fields  of  the  agriculturist.  "  Whatso- 
ever a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap." 

V.  The  Providence  of  God  contemplates  the  highest 
good  of  those  who  are  on  the  side  of  holiness  and   truth. 


24  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

"All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God";  observe  the  condition,  "to  them  that  love  God;" 
remember  that  if  we  would  love  God,  the  first  indispensable 
thing  is  that  we  accept  God's  love  to  us. 

W.  M.  T. 


XVII.  Training  Children.  Exod.  ii.  9.  "Take  this 
child  away,  and  nurse  it  for  me,  and  I  will  give  thee  thy 
wages." 

God's  care  over  the  infant  Moses  is  but  an  illustration 
of  the  Divine  watchfulness  over  all  children.  Pharaoh's 
daughter  spoke  better  than  she  knew  when  she  uttered 
the  words  of  our  text.     God  spake  through  her  lips. 

I.  The  first  qualification  for  the  training  of  children  is 
the  love  of  children.  This  means  something  more  and 
better  than  the  instinctive  fondness  which  men  and  women, 
in  common  with  beasts,  have  for  their  own  offspring.  It 
is  a  perception  of  the  intrinsic  beauty  of  childhood,  a 
sympathy  with  its  simplicity  and  freedom  from  guile,  a 
profound  yearning  towards  its  helplessness.  They  who  do 
not  love  other  people's  children,  do  not  love  their  own 
in  the  sense  upon  which  we  are  insisting.  Miriam's  heart 
beat  and  her  cheek  glowed  with  its  impulse  when  she 
"  stood  afar  off  to  wit  what  would  be  done."  She  is  the 
type  of  multitudes  of  single  sisters  whose  unselfish  devotion 
is  among  the  richest  treasures  of  the  family  and  the  Church. 
Pharaoh's  daughter  was  constrained  by  this  love  when  she 
had  compassion  on  the  weeping  child.  Jesus  Christ  exer- 
cised it  in  perfection  when  He  took  infants  in  His  arms 
and  blessed  them. 

II.  The  second  grand  essential  is  to  receive  children  as 
sacred  trusts  from  God  to  be  nursed  for  Him.  Our  success 
in  the  prosecution  of  any  work  in  life  must  depend  upon 
the  motives  with  which  we  enter  upon  it,  and  the  end  we 
propose  to  obtain  by  it.  When  the  little  one  is  laid  in  our 
bosom  and  we  ask,  "  What  manner  of  child  will  this  be  ? " 
the  answer  is  •*  Just  what  you  propose  to  make  of  it."  We 
should  regard  a  child  as  a  being  of  unbounded  suscep- 
tibilities, and  destined  to  eternity,  which  God  has  com- 
mitted to  us  to  train  for  His  glory. 


OLD    TESTAMENT,  2$ 


III.  A  third  essential  is  the  requirement  of  unanswerino- 
obedience.  This  is  the  first  element  of  all  social  virtue, 
and  of  all  religion.  This  requirement  does  not  involve 
any  harshness  in  the  manner  of  its  enforcement.  It  is 
saturated  through  and  through  by  the  love  of  the  children. 
It  is  lifted  above  the  impulses  of  selfish  petulance  and 
passion  by  a  sense  of  the  Divine  trust  given  to  us. 

IV.  Parents  ought  to  cultivate  and  win  the  absolute 
confidence  and  affection  of  their  children.  We  must  not 
take  too  much  for  granted  on  this  subject.  If  the  plastic 
period  of  childhood  is  not  improved  to  sow  the  seeds  of  a 
rational  affection  and  confidence  which  after  years  will 
cultivate  and  develop,  the  natural  instinct  will  amount  to 
nothing,  even  if  it  does  not  turn  again  and  rend  the  bosom 
that  has  nursed  it.  It  is  not  easy  to  obtain  this  absolute 
confidence  and  affection  except  so  far  as  love  makes  easy 
the  self-denials  and  unselfish  devotion  which  it  suggests. 

There  are  cases,  indeed,  where  after  long  years%f  self- 
sacrificing  love,  a  broken-hearted  father  and  mother  can 
only  come  to  Christ  saying,  "  Have  mercy  upon  me,  O 
Lord  !  my  son,  or  my  daughter,  is  grievously  tormented 
with  a  devil."  For  surely  there  is  no  worse  form  of 
demoniacal  possession  than  the  filial  ingratitude  that 
tramples  on  a  father's  or  mother's  heart  in  its  way  to 
everlasting  orphanage  and  remorse. 

The  most  important  thing  connected  with  home  is  the 
atmosphere  which  pervades  it.  If  it  is  warm  with  love 
and  bright  with  the  recognition  of  God's  presence,  then  it 
is  indeed  a  garden  of  the  Lord. 

H.  J.  V.  D. 

XVIII.  God's  Revelation  to  Moses.  Exod.  in.  6. 
"lam  the  God  of  thy  father,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God 
of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob.  And  Moses  hid  his  face  ;  for 
he  was  afraid  to  look  upon  God." 

This  verse  has  been  rendered  for  ever  memorable  by  the 
use  our  Lord  made  of  it,  in  replying  the  Sadducees,  as  the 
great  proof  of  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead  drawn  from 
the  old  Testament  Scriptures  :  "  As  touching  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead,  have  ye  not  read  that  which  was  spoken 


26  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

unto  you  by  God,  saying,  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and 
the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob?"  (Matt.  xxii.  31, 
32).  It  is  not  strange  the  multitude  were  "astonished 
when  they  heard  this,"  for  the  argument  is  so  new  and 
unsuspected,  and  yet  so  conclusive,  that  it  still  fills  us  with 
the  same  wonder  at  the  depth  and  originality  of  Christ's 
interpretation  of  these  words,  and  suggests  to  us  what 
unexplored  riches  there  may  lie  beneath  the  most  familiar 
words  of  Scripture. 

The  whole  chapter  in  the  Book  of  Exodus,  from  which 
this  text  is  taken,  is  one  of  the  great  chapters  of  the  Bible, 
and  like  the  call  of  Abraham,  or  the  giving  of  the  law  at 
Sinai,  or  the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  in  Canaan, 
forms  one  of  the  great  critical  epochs  in  the  unfolding  of 
the  history  of  the  old  covenant. 

I.  First  of  all  it  ought  to  be  noticed  that  the  deliverance 
of  Israel  from  Egypt,  and  the  call  of  Moses  as  the  deliverer, 
begin  with  the  personal  revelation  of  God  to  Moses.  It  is 
not  without  meaning  that  the  history  of  the  Exodus  begins 
with  the  history  of  the  burning  bush.  All  the  servants 
of  God  who  have  been  called  to  any  great  work  by  Him, 
have  commenced  their  work  with  the  vision  of  God. 
Abraham,  Elijah,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  in  the  Old 
Testament,  and  St.  Paul  and  St.  John  in  the  New,  are 
illustrations  of  this  great  truth.  And  in  the  case  of  Israel, 
the  revelation  of  God  was  specially  needed,  not  merely 
because  there  had  been  none  for  some  hundreds  of  years, 
but  because  the  revolt  in  Egypt  was  emphatically  a  religious 
revolt,  and  the  deliverance  from  Egypt  was  emphatically 
a  Divine  deliverance.  It  was  a  "  Redemption,"  and  the 
supernatural  character  of  the  redemption  is  stamped  upon 
it  from  the  very  first. 

II.  And  yet — how  significant  it  is — this  revelation  of 
God  to  Moses  comes  to  him  in  the  midst  of  his  ordinary 
and  daily  work.  It  was  as  "he  kept  the  flock  of  Jethro, 
his  father,"  he  suddenly  beheld  "this  great  sight"  of  the 
bush  burning,  but  unconsumed,  and  heard  the  voice  of  God 
speaking  to  him  out  of  the  bush.  It  is  a  witness  to  the 
old  but  ever  new  truth,  that  the  highest  manifestations  of 
God  are  not  to  be  seen  by  those  who  "seek  some  great 
thing,"  but  are  to  be  found  in  the  faithful  performance  of 
the  "common  round,  the  trivial  task;"  and  that  only  those 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


27 


who  are  content  thus  to  be  "  faithful  in  a  very  little,"  are 
ever  called  by  God  to  "  rule  over  ten  cities." 

III.  The  successive  stages  in  the  revelation  itself  are 
equally  significant. 

(1)  It  begins,  as  all  revelation  of  the  Infinite  to  the  finite 
must  begin,  with  a  symbol:  "The  angel  of  the  Lord 
appeared  unto  him  in  a  flame  of  fire  out  of  the  midst  of  a 
bush  ;  and  he  looked,  and  behold,  the  bush  burned  with 
fire,  and  the  bush  was  not  consumed." 

(2)  But  the  symbol  passes  into  the  higher  spiritual  truth 
it  was  meant  to  reveal.  The  fire  becomes  a  voice.  "  God 
called  unto  Moses  out  of  the  midst  of  the  bush,  and  said, 
Moses,  Moses.  And  he  said,  Here  am  I.  And  He  said, 
Draw  not  nigh  Jiither;  put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet, 
for  the  place  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground."  The 
lawgiver  of  the  Old  Covenant  is  learning  its  first  lesson — 
the  lesson  of  awe.     Revelation  begins  with  reverence. 

(3)  But  not  of  awe  alone.  For  the  next  words  of  God, 
the  words  of  our  text,  are  a  demand  for  trust,  and  the 
demand  is  founded  on  the  history  of  the  past :  "I  am  the 
God  of  thy  father" — the  personal  relation  of  God  to 
Moses  coming  first,  and  the  wider  relation  to  the  patriarchs 
now  following— "and  the  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of 
Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob."  But  the  pledge  which  the 
past  relation  of  God  to  Israel  affords  of  coming  deliverance 
is  now  to  be  finally  sealed  by  the  Revelation  of  God, 
culminating  in  the  communication  of  that  awful  and  in- 
effable Name  which  at  once  shall  declare  His  eternal 
unchangeableness  as  well  as  His  eternal  Being ;  the  Name 
that  for  all  the  ages  to  come  was  to  witness  to  the  most 
sacred  and  tender  relation  of  God  to  His  people ;  the 
Name  which  no  Jew  ever  dared  to  utter  with  his  lips,  lest 
he  should  be  consumed,  and  which  no  Jewish  scribe  ever 
dared  to  write,  without  first  lifting  his  pen  from  the  scroll, 
and  as  he  dipped  it  freshly  in  the  ink,  devoutly  breathed  a 
prayer  for  mercy — the  name  of  JEHOVAH. 

One  last  and  solemn  act  in  this  revelation  of  the  name 
of  God  has  yet  to  be  accomplished.  The  New  Covenant 
Name  must  be  solemnly  affixed  to  the  ancient  patriarchal 
title  of  God,  as  the  sign  to  Israel  that  all  that  was  precious 
in  the  dealings  of  God  with  their  fathers  may  be  looked 
for   in    His   coming  dealings   with   them.     And   therefore 


28  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

Moses  is  commanded  to  go  forth  with  this  as  his  first 
message  to  his  people — at  once  the  pledge  of  his  own 
commission  and  of  the  changeless  faithfulness  and  pity  of 
God — "Jehovah  God  of  your  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham, 
the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob,  hath  sent  me 
unto  you." 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  revelation  of  God  to  Moses.  And 
it  had  the  moral  effects  upon  him  that  the  vision  of  God 
always  has  on  His  servants.  It  makes  him  just  as  humble 
in  the  presence  of  God,  as  it  makes  him  strong  in  the 
presence  of  man.  Before  God  Moses  "  hides  his  face  "  and 
is  "afraid  to  look  upon  God,"  and  imploringly  deprecates 
his  being  entrusted  with  a  mission  for  which  he  confesses 
himself  profoundly  unworthy.  Before  Pharaoh  he  is  as 
"  bold  as  a  lion  ; "  he  has  lost  all  the  former  timidity  and 
fear  of  man  which,  forty  years  before,  had  sent  him  flying 
a  fugitive  from  the  wrath  of  the  king,  into  the  land  of 
Midian,  and  with  a  voice  as  of  thunder,  he  utters  the  com- 
mand to  Pharaoh,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel, 
Let  my  people  go."  The  figure  of  Moses  that  the  genius 
of  Michael  Angelo  has  sculptured,  and  which  in  stern  and 
awful  grandeur  frowns  down  upon  the  beholder  from  the 
walls  of  S.  Pietro  in  Vinadi  in  Rome,  looking  as  strong 
and  unyielding  as  the  rock  from  which  it  was  hewn,  is  only 
the  image  of  what  "  the  meekest  man  above  all  men  that 
are  on  the  face  of  the  earth,"  may  become  under  the  vision 
of  God.  It  is  the  sublimest  illustration  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment of  the  experience  St.  Paul  has  recorded  in  the  New, 
as  the  crowning  revelation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  himself, 
"  He  said  unto  me,  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee  ;  for  My 
strength  is  made  perfect  in  weakness ; "  and  it  teaches 
even  the  humblest  and  weakest  among  us  how  he  may  say, 
"  When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong." 

G.  S.  B. 


XIX.  The  Golden  Calf.  Exod.  xxxii.  i.  "  The  people 
gathered  themselves'  together  unto  Aaron,  and  said  unto  him, 
Up  !  make  us  gods  which  shall  go  before  us  out  of  the  land  of 
kg)pt     .     .     .     we  wot  not  what  is  become  of  him." 

It   is  all-important   for  us  to  study  the  manifestations  of 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  29 

God's  government  and  God's  relations  to  man,  and  man's 
dealings  with  God,  as  we  find  them  unerringly  traced  for 
us  in  the  Jewish  history.  We  see  there,  as  it  were  con- 
densed, intensified  and  so  made  sharply  and  clearly  visible, 
one  of  those  slow  processes  of  Divine  government  and 
judgment,  which  in  other  nations  rolled  themselves  out 
through  the  length  of  centuries.  Let  us  consider  one  such 
feature  of  the  dealings  between  God  and  man  in  history  as 
it  is  given  us  in  our  text. 

We  find  that  it  is  really  the  history  of  a  most  remarkable 
religious  revolution  occurring  in  the  nation  of  the  Jews. 
The  essence  of  the  scene  lies  in  this,  that  you  have  a  nation 
rejecting  God  and  His  law,  that  you  have  that  nation 
immediately  plunged  into  the  wildest  and  foulest  licen- 
tiousness, and  then  that  you  have  that  nation  judged  and 
chastened  by  a  sore  and  bloody  judgment. 

I.  We  have  here  an  instance  of  national  corruption  and 
ultimate  rejection  of  the  true  faith. 

From  what  source  did  this  spring  ?  who  were  the  movers 
in  this  great  act  of  national  apostasy  ?  There  appeared  in 
it  the  priest  and  the  people.  Aaron  puts  out  all  his  skill 
at  the  people's  bidding.  You  have  a  distinctly  marked  case 
of  priestcraft  in  its  very  surest  form.  But  the  people  are  the 
inciters  of  that  priestcraft.  Here  are  true  history  and  true 
philosophy.  Never  yet  in  the  world's  history  were  the 
priesthood  so  separate  a  caste  in  the  nation,  as  that  they 
invented  their  belief,  and  then  imposed  it  on  the  nation. 
It  is  not  so  often  the  priests  who  deceive  the  people,  as 
it  is  the  people  that  will  have  the  priest  to  deceive  them. 
So,  "  The  prophets  prophesy  falsely  and  the  priests  bear 
rule  by  their  means,  and  my  people  love  to  have  it  so,  and 
what  will  ye  do  in  the  end  thereof"  !  It  is  this  imperious 
multitude,  craving  for  novelty,  which  imposes  upon  the 
priest  and  the  teacher  the  duty  of  pleasing  them.  Do  we 
hear  nothing  like  this  from  the  multitude  now  ?  Is  it  not 
rung  in  our  ears  in  all  our  modern  literature?  "You 
priests,  what  have  you  to  teach  us  !  Give  us  less  of  your 
dogma,  and  imbibe  the  spirit  of  the  age  ;  learn  of  the  mul- 
titude. Make  us  gods  that  shall  go  before  us,  for  as  for  this 
Moses — this  Christ — we  wot  not  what  is  become  of  them." 
Woe  to  us  if  we  listen  to  any  such  entreaty.  High 
above  the  priest  and  people  stands  the  mount  of  the  law  of 


30  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

the   Lord.     In    so  far  as  we  bear  this  law  faithfully  and 
honestly  in  our  hands  have  we  the  right  to  teach  you. 

Priestcraft  then  springs  from  the  people — this  is  the  first 
lesson  that  we  learn  from  this  incident. 

II.  The  real  cause  of  this  impatience  of  the  people  with 
their  old  faith. 

It  was  this  :  "  As  for  this  Moses,  we  wot  not  what  has 
become  of  him." 

Their  teacher  had  become  invisible.  They  needed  some- 
thing that  they  could  see,  and  touch,  and  handle,  and  these 
were  to  be  their  gods.  They  could  not  "  endure  as  seeing 
the  invisible." 

This  is  the  temptation  of  the  human  heart  in  all  ages. 
Men's  heart  craves  to  see  its  god  ;  and  the  answer  to  that 
craving  of  humanity — God's  answer  to  that — has  been  the 
incarnation  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  soul  of  man  that 
desires  to  see  God  there  has  been  revealed  "  God  manifest 
in  the  flesh." 

But  He  too  has  passed  away  from  earth,  and  He  has 
told  us  that  it  is  for  our  good.  The  reason  of  this  is  that 
we  may  learn  to  have  faith  in  the  invisible. 

And  so  the  nation  or  the  soul  that  gives  itself  up  to 
resting  only  on  the  visible,  believes  only  in  what  can  be 
demonstrated,  worships,  lives,  cleaves  only  to  that  which  is 
close  to  it,  and  it  makes  itself  gods  that  may  go  before  it. 
It  takes  off  its  ornaments,  which  the  priests  took  off  the 
Jews. 

This  nation  takes  off  its  ornaments — of  its  wealth  and 
learning  and  philosophy  and  art,  of  its  statesmanship,  its 
literature,  its  poetry — and  it  makes  for  itself  new  gods, 
and  there  comes  out  ever  this  calf.  There  comes  out  ever 
some  degrading  and  debasing  form  of  self- worship — the  god 
that  the  man  worships  who  worships  but  himself  is,  after  all, 
but  a  beast  which  he  worships  for  a  god. 

III.  The  result  of  this  national  apostasy,  of  this  worship 
of  the  visible. 

(i)  There  immediately  follows  gross  licentiousness.  Why 
is  it  that  a  sensuous  and  low  life  should  follow  upon  an 
intellectual  error  in  a  man's  creed  ?  Why  is  it  that  idolatry, 
or  the  worshipping  of  many  gods,  is  always  accompanied  in 
the  history  of  the  world  with  the  grossest  sensuality  ?  The 
reason  is  clear.     Each  idol  that  men  worshipped  in  pagan 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  31 

days,  or  that  they  now  worship  in  heathen  nations,  is  some 
portion  of  nature  deified — some  power  in  nature — some 
attribute  of  man — which  the  man  takes  and  worships  as  his 
god.  Now  it  is  the  very  nature  of  all  such  properties  or 
attributes,  that  they  are  monstrous  and  mischievous.  For 
instance,  love  without  purity  is  appetite  ;  wisdom  without 
truthfulness  is  cunning  ;  courage  without  mercy  is  ferocity  ; 
justice  without  compassion  is  horrible  cruelty. 

It  is  only  as  men  recognise  that  there  is  one  supreme 
perfect  unseen  Being,  in  whom  all  these  differing  fragments 
as  it  were,  of  being  and  of  life,  are  united  and  harmonized 
in  their  true  properties,  it  is  only  in  that  degree  that  they 
gain  a  pure  conception  and  a  true  ideal  of  their  own  life  to 
which  they  may  conform  it.  And  just  in  the  degree  in 
which  men  lose  this  idea  will  they  become  like  unto  the 
things  they  worship. 

The  idol,  be  it  what  it  may  that  we  worship,  degrades 
our  souls  and  makes  us  base  and  sensual.  Are  there  no  idols 
of  the  day  that  we  are  in  danger  of  worshipping  now  ?  Is 
there  not  the  idol  of  public  opinion,  the  voice  of  the  mul- 
titude, which  they  tell  us  is  the  voice  of  God. 

Another  idol  of  the  day  is  the  temptation  to  follow  party 
— to  make  party  a  god. 

Then  there  is  the  coarser  and  lower  idolatry  of  self — 
mere  sensuousness  that  leads  a  pleasant  luxurious  life  and 
forgets  the  death  that  comes  to  all,  and  seeks  to  make  life 
a  continual  feast,  with  no  eye  to  see  the  hand  that  may  be 
writing  on  the  wall  "  mene,  mene,  tekel,  upharsin,"  at  their 
feast. 

Then  there  is  the  intemperance  of  the  people,  which  so 
often  drowns  their  souls. 

May  God  deliver  us,  one  and  all,  teachers  and  taught, 
preachers  and  people,  from  the  idols  of  the  age. 

(2)  There  also  follows  fratricide. 

It  is  one  of  the  incidents  of  the  story  that  those  who  slay 
are  specially  commissioned  to  slay,  but  it  is  of  the  essence 
of  the  story  that  licentious  and  selfish  life  is  ever,  in  man- 
kind's history,  cleansed  with  fire  and  with  blood.  When 
religion  that  men  have  attempted  to  banish  from  them,  has 
no  longer  its  lessons  of  a  Divine  fatherhood  or  of  a  Divine 
brotherhood,  the  hand  of  every  man  is  against  his  fellow, 
and  lawless  anarchy  prevails. 


32  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

And  so  ever  does  the  false  faith  lead  to  the  foul  life,  and 
ever  is  the  foul  life  cleansed  by  the  terrible  judgments  of 
God.  May  God  give  us  grace  to  shun  the  sin  of  idolatry, 
and  so  may  He  preserve  us  from  the  suffering  of  judg- 
ment. 

W.  C.  M. 


XX.     Sojourners  with  God.     Lev.  xxv.  23.     "The  land 

shall  not  be  sold  for  ever :  for  the  land  is  mine :  for  ye  are 
strangers  and  sojourners  with  me? 

The  singular  institution  of  the  Jubilee  year  had  more  than 
one  purpose.  As  a  social  and  economical  arrangement,  it 
tended  to  prevent  the  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty.  As 
a  ceremonial  institution,  it  was  the  completion  of  the  law 
of  the  Sabbath.  As  the  Sabbath  in  the  week,  so  was  the 
seventh  year  among  the  Jews — a  time  of  quiet  and  rest. 
It  was  appointed  to  enforce  and  to  make  the  whole  fabric 
of  the  national  wealth  consciously  rest  upon  this  thought 
contained  in  the  text.  The  land  was  not  theirs  to  sell — 
they  had  only  a  beneficial  occupation.  While  they  held  it, 
it  was  still  His,  and  they  were  only  like  a  band  of  wanderers 
settling  for  a  while,  by  permission  of  the  Owner,  on  His 
estate.  Their  camp-fires  were  there  to-day,  but  to-morrow 
they  would  be  gone.  They  are  "strangers  and  sojourners." 
That  may  be  sad,  but  all  the  sadness  goes  when  we  read 
on — "  With  Me."  They  are  God's  guests,  so  though  they 
do  not  own  a  foot  of  soil,  they  need  not  fear  want. 

I.  Here  is  the  lesson  of  God's  proprietorship  and  our 
Stewardship.  "The  land  is  Mine,"  was  of  course  true  in  a 
special  sense  of  the  territory  which  God  gave  by  promise 
and  miracle,  which  was  kept  by  obedience  and  lost  by 
rebellion.  But  it  is  as  really  true  about  our  possessions,  and 
that  not  only  because  of  our  transient  stay  here.  Length 
of  time  makes  no  difference  in  this  tenure.  Undisturbed 
possession  for  ever  so  long  does  not  constitute  ownership 
here.  God  is  possessor  of  all,  by  virtue  of  His  very  nature, 
by  His  creation  and  preservation  of  us  and  of  all  things. 
When  we  talk  of  H  mine  "  and  "  thine  "  we  are  only  speak- 
ing a  half  truth.  There  is  a  great  sovereign  "  His  "  behind 
both. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  33 

(1)  This  thought  should  nurture  constant  thankfulness 
Blessed  are  they  who,  by  the  magic  glass  of  a  thankful 
heart,  see  all  things  in  God  and  God  in  all  things.  To 
them  life  is  tenfold  brighter,  as  a  light  plunged  in  oxygen 
flames  more  intensely  than  in  common  air.  The  darkest . 
night  is  filled  with  light,  and  the  loneliest  place  blazes  with 
angel  faces,  and  the  stoniest  pillow  is  soft  to  him  who  sees 
everywhere  the  ladder  that  knits  earth  with  heaven,  and  to 
whom  all  his  blessings  are  as  the  messengers  that  descend 
it  on  errands  of  mercy,  whose  long  shining  series  leads  up 
the  eye  and  the  heart  to  the  loving  God  from  whom  they 
come. 

(2)  Here  is  the  ground  for  constant  thankful  submission. 
"  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away."  We 
have  no  right  to  murmur,  however  we  may  regret,  if  the 
Landowner  takes  back  a  bit  of  the  land  which  He  has  let 
us  occupy.  He  does  not  take  it  away  for  His  advantage, 
or  at  His  own  whim,  but  "for  our  profit."  His  only  reason 
for  ever  disturbing  us  is  that  we  may  be  driven  to  claim  a 
better  inheritance  in  Himself  than  we  can  find  even  in  the 
best  of  His  gifts. 

(3)  There  should  be  a  constant  sense  of  responsibility 
in  the  use  of  all  which  we  have.  All  is  His,  and  He 
has  given  all  to  us  for  a  purpose.  We  are  but  stewards  or 
trustees,  and  are  bound  to  employ  everything  according 
to  what,  in  the  exercise  of  our  best  judgment,  we  believe 
to  be  the  Owner's  will. 

II.  We  have  the  teaching  of  the  transiency  of  our  stay 
here.  "Ye  are  strangers  and  sojourners" — pilgrims  who 
make  a  brief  stay  in  a  foreign  country. 

(1)  How  vividly  this  word  of  the  text  brings  out  the 
contrast  between  the  permanence  of  the  external  world  and 
our  brief  stay  in  it.  In  Israel  there  would  be  few  vine- 
yards or  olive-grounds  held  by  the  same  men  at  two,  and 
none  at  three  successive  Jubilees.  The  hoary,  twisted 
olives  yielded  their  black  berries  say  to  Simeon,  the  son 
of  Joseph,  to-day,  as  they  did  fifty  years  ago  to  Joseph, 
the  son  of  Reuben,  and  as  they  will  do  fifty  years  hence 
to  Judas,  the  sou  of  Simeon.  "One  generation  cometh 
and  another  goeth,  but  the  earth  abideth  for  ever." 

(2)  The  constant  change  and  progression  of  life  are 
enforced  in  this  metaphor.     The  old  emblem  of  a  journey 

D 


34  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

suggests  how,  moment  by  moment,  we  hurry  on,  and  how 
everything  is  slipping  past  us,  as  fields  and  towns  do  to  a 
traveller  in  a  train. 

A  long,  patient  discipline  is  needed  to  keep  fresh  in  our 
hearts  the  sense  of  this  transiency.  Let  us  set  ourselves 
consciously  to  deepen  our  convictions  of  it,  and  amidst  all 
the  illusions  of  these  solid-seeming  shows  of  things,  keep 
firm  hold  of  the  assurance  that  they  are  but  fleeting 
shadows  that  sweep  across  the  solemn  mountain's  side,  and 
that  only  God  and  the  doing  of  His  will  lasts.  So  shall 
our  life  pierce  down  with  its  seeking  roots  to  the  abiding 
ground  of  all  being,  and  looking  to  eternal  things  we  shall 
be  able  to  make  what  is  but  for  a  moment,  contribute  to 
the  everlasting  ennobling  of  our  character  and  enrichment 
of  our  life  yonder. 

(3)  These  words  tell  of  the  true  home. 

Ye  are  strangers — because  your  native  land  is  elsewhere. 
How  short  this  phase  of  being  must  look  seen  from  above ! 
If  we  reach  that  safe  shore,  and  look  back  upon  the  sea 
that  brought  us  thither,  as  it  stretches  to  the  horizon,  miles 
of  billows  so  terrible  once  will  seem  shrunken  to  a  line  of 
white  foam.  Cherish,  then,  constant  consciousness  of  that 
solemn  eternity.  Use  the  transient  as  preparation  for  the 
eternal. 

III.  We  have  here  also  the  teaching  of  trust — "With 
Me."  That  gives  the  true  notion  of  our  earthly  life.  We 
are  strangers  indeed,  passing  through  a  country  that  is  not 
ours,  but  whilst  we  are,  we  are  "sojourners"  with  the  King 
of  the  land.  Since  we  are  "with  Him,"  we  have  companion- 
ship even  when  most  solitary.  Whoever  goes,  He  abides. 
So  will  it  be  while  we  live,  and  when  we  are  called  to  die — 
well  ;  the  King  of  this  land  where  we  are  strangers,  is  the 
King  of  the  other  land  beyond  the  sea,  where  we  are  at 
home.  Death  the  separator  shall  but  invite  us  to  the 
King  whose  presence  indeed  fills  this  subject-province  of 
His  empire  with  all  its  good,  but  who  dwells  in  more 
resplendent  "  beauty,"  and  is  felt  in  greater  nearness  in  the 
other  "  land  that  is  very  far  off."  Whether  here  or  there, 
we  may  have  God  with  us  if  we  will.  With  Him  for  our 
Host  and  Companion  let  us  peacefully  go  on  our  road, 
while  the  life  of  strangers  and  sojourners  shall  last.  It  will 
bring  us  to  the  fatherland,  where  we  shall  be  at  home  with 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  35 


the  King-,  and  find  in   Him  our  "sure  dwelling,  and  quiet 
resting-place,  and  peaceful  habitation  for  ever." 

A.  M. 


XXI.  The  Benediction.  Num.  vi.  24-26.  "The  Lord 
bless  thee  and  keep  thee :  the  Lord  make  His  face  shine  upon 
thee,  and  be  gracious  unto  thee:  the  Lord  lift  up  His  countenance 
upon  thee  and  give  thee  peace  " 

THIS  was  the  form  divinely  appointed,  according  to  which 
Aaron  and  his  sons  were  to  pronounce  their  benediction 
upon  Israel.  While  humbly  receiving  the  blessing  the 
Israelites  must  have  felt  that  in  the  form  of  it  a  mystery 
was  involved  which  they  could  not  comprehend. 

I.  When  they  found  that  the  Sacred  Name  Jehovah  was 
pronounced  three  times,  and  each  time  with  a  different 
accent,  this  feeling  of  awe  was  deeply  rooted  in  their  hearts. 
What  was  a  mystery  to  the  Israelites  has,  through  the 
Gospel,  become  a  revelation  to  us.  It  has  been  clearly 
revealed  to  us  that  in  the  one  Divine  nature  there  are  three 
distinct  Persons,  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.  YVe 
should  not  expect  on  the  one  hand  to  find  the  fact  of  the 
Trinity  clearly  revealed  to  the  Israelites.  They  were  not 
in  a  state  of  sufficient  intellectual  advancement  to  receive 
that  fact  ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  the  fact  itself  having 
existed  from  all  eternity,  we  should  expect  to  find  intima- 
tions of  that  fact  in  every  part  of  the  Bible,  intelligible  to 
us  to  whom  a  revelation  has  been  made.  So  we  are  not 
surprised  when  learned  Hebraists  inform  us  that  in  up- 
wards of  two  thousand  instances  "  God  "  is  described  by  a 
plural  substantive,  the  adjuncts  of  which  are  in  the  singular 
n  umber. 

II.  There  is  a  particular  reference  in  our  text  to  the  dis- 
tinct and  peculiar  blessings  conferred  by  the  Godhead  on 
the  members  of  His  Church.  Each  Person  in  the  one  God- 
head peculiarly  undertakes  to  discharge  special  blessings. 

God  the  Father  gives  His  love  to  His  children,  and 
causes  all  things  to  work  for  their  good.  God  the  Son 
makes  His  face  shine  on  them,  and  is  gracious,  giving  them 
to  see  God  in  Him  reconciling  the  world  to  Himself.  God 
the  Holy  Ghost  lights  up  His  countenance  upon  them  and 


v 


36  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

gives  all  the  comfort  which  results  from  a  conscience   at 
peace  with  God. 

W.  F.  H. 


XXII.  Our  true  Leader.  Num.  x.  29,  31.  "  And  Moses 
said  unto  Hobab,  Leave  us  not,  I pray  thee ;  forasmuch  as  thou 
knowest  how  we  are  to  encamp  in  the  zui/demess,  and  thou 
may  est  be  to  us  instead  of  eyes." 

The  fugitives,  whom  Moses  led,  reached  Sinai  in  three 
months  after  leaving  Egypt.  They  remained  there  for  at 
least  nine  months,  and  amidst  the  solitude  of  these  wild 
rocks  they  kept  the  first  Passover — the  anniversary  of  their 
deliverance. 

"  On  the  twentieth  day  of  the  second  month,"  they  began 
again  their  march  through  the  grim,  unknown  desert.  One 
can  fancy  their  fears  as  they  looked  forward  to  the  enemies 
and  trials  which  might  be  awaiting  them.  In  these  cir- 
cumstances the  story  comes  in  most  naturally. 

Some  time  before  the  encampment  broke  up  from  Sinai, 
a  relative  of  Moses  by  marriage  whose  precise  connection 
with  him  need  not  trouble  us  now,  Hobab  by  name,  had 
come  into  the  camp  on  a  visit.  He  was  a  Midianite  by  race, 
and  knew  every  foot  of  the  ground.  So  Moses  prays  him 
to  remain  with  them  and  give  them  the  benefit  of  his 
practical  knowledge — "  to  be  to  us  instead  of  eyes."  It  is 
noteworthy  that  the  narrative  does  not  tell  whether  the 
persistent  request  succeeded  or  not.  We  find,  indeed,  his 
descendants  enrolled  in  the  great  Domesday  Book  of  the 
Conquest  as  possessing  land,  and  probably  incorporated 
among  the  Israelites.  It  may,  therefore,  be  supposed  that, 
either  then  or  afterwards,  Hobab  forsook  his  country  and 
his  father's  house  to  shelter  himself  beneath  the  wings  of 
the  God  of  Jacob. 

The  silence  of  the  record  is  significant,  especially  if  taken 
in  connection  with  the  verses  immediately  following.  The 
historian  does  not  think  it  worth  while  to  tell  whether 
Moses'  attempt  to  secure  the  help  of  sharp  Bedouin  eyes 
succeeded  or  failed,  but  passes  on  to  describe  at  once  how 
"  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  went  before  them  to 
search  out  a  resting-place  for  them ; "  and  how  "  the  cloud 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  37 

was  upon  them  when  they  went  out  of  the  camp."  He 
puts  the  two  things  side  by  side,  surely  expecting  that 
we  shall  not  miss  what  is  so  plain.  He  would  teach  us 
that  it  mattered  little  whether  Israel  had  Hobab  or  not,  if 
they  had  the  ark  and  the  cloud.  Perhaps  he  meant  us  to 
ask  ourselves  whether  it  was  not  a  wavering  of  faith  in 
Moses,  to  be  so  anxious  to  secure  a  human  guide  when  he 
had  a  Divine  leader. 

I.  There  are  times  and  moods  in  which  our  forward 
look  brings  with  it  a  painful  sense  of  the  unknown  wilder- 
ness before  us. 

The  general  complexion  of  the  future  may  be  roughly 
estimated.  We  know  very  early  in  life,  unless  we  are 
wonderfully  frivolous  and  credulous,  that  the  thread  of  our 
days  is  a  mingled  strand,  and  the  prevailing  tone  a  sober, 
neutral  tint.  The  main  characteristics  of  what  we  shall 
meet  we  know  well  enough.  "  That  which  is  to  be  hath 
already  been."  But  the  particular  events  are  hid,  and  it  is 
strange  and  impressive  when  we  come  to  think  how  Provi- 
dence, working  with  the  same  uniform  materials  in  all 
human  lives,  can  yet,  like  some  skilful  artist,  produce  endless 
novelty  and  surprises  in  life.  For  every  one  of  us,  the  road 
is  new  day  by  day.  "  We  have  not  passed  this  way  hereto- 
fore," is  always  true  of  each  day's  new  tasks  and  incidents ; 
for  even  if  they  be  the  same  as  those  of  a  thousand  days 
before,  yet  we  who  tread  the  road  are  not  quite  the  same, 
and  the  bearing  of  the  events  on  us  is  somewhat  different. 
The  solemn  ignorance  of  the  next  moment  is  sometimes 
stimulating  and  joyous.  To  young  life  it  gives  zest  and 
buoyancy  and  secures  many  a  glad  surprise.  But  to  all 
there  come  times  when  the  blank  curtain  between  us  and 
the  next  beat  of  the  pendulum  is  felt  to  be  very  near  us 
and  very  thick,  and  when  the  ignorance  is  saddening,  and 
when  the  shapes  we  paint  on  its  folds  are  gloomy  and 
threatening. 

It  is' a  libel  on  God's  goodness  to  speak  of  the  world  as 
a  wilderness.  He  has  not  made  it  so  ;  and  if  anybody  finds 
that  "all  is  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,"  it  is  his  own 
fault.  But  still,  one  aspect  of  life  is  truly  represented  by 
that  figure.  There  are  dangers,  and  barren  places,  and  a 
great  solitude  in  spite  of  love  and  companionship,  and 
many  marchings  and  lurking  foes.     Who  knows  what  we 


38  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

shall  see  when  we  top  the  next  hill  or  round  the  shoulder 
of  the  cliff  that  bars  our  way  ?  The  great  crises  and  trials 
of  our  lives  mostly  come  unlooked  for.  Our  Waterloos 
have  a  way  of  crashing  into  the  midst  of  our  feasts,  and 
generally  it  is  when  all  goes  "  merry  as  a  marriage  bell  " 
that  the  cannon  shot  breaks  in  upon  our  mirth,  which  tells 
that  the  enemy  have  crossed  the  river  and  the  battle  is 
begun. 

II.  We  have  here  an  illustration  of  the  weakness  that 
clings  to  human  guides.  For  men  who  have  God  to  guide 
them,  it  argues  weakness  of  faith  and  courage  to  be  much 
solicitous  of  any  Hobab  to  show  them  where  to  go  and 
where  to  camp.  Of  course  we  are  meant  to  depend  on  one 
another.  No  man  can  safely  isolate  himself  either  intellect- 
ually or  in  practical  matters.  To  live  without  dependence 
on  human  help  and  guidance,  is  to  be  either  a  savage 
or  an  angel.  A  very  large  part  of  God's  guidance  is 
ministered  to  us  through  men.  But  we  are  ever  apt  to  feel 
that  we  cannot  do  without  the  human  leader,  and  are  all 
apt  to  pin  our  faith  on  some  trusted  guide,  and  so  put  the 
teacher  between  ourselves  and  God. 

The  highest  eulogium  that  the  human  teacher  can  re- 
ceive is  when  his  scholars  say  to  him,  "Now  we  believe,  not 
because  of  thy  saying,  for  we  have  heard  Him  ourselves." 

III.  The  true  Leader  of  our  march.  The  contrast  which 
is  brought  into  prominence  by  the  juxtaposition  of  this 
section  and  that  which  follows  it  makes  this  thought  em- 
phatic. "  The  Lord  went  before  them  by  day  in  a  pillar 
of  cloud  to  lead  them  the  way."  If  Moses  had  remembered 
how  their  marching  and  their  encampments  were  fixed,  he 
had  not  been  so  anxious  to  secure  Hobab's  sharp  eyes. 

We  have  the  same  Divine  guidance  if  we  will ;  in  sober 
reality  we  have  God's  presence  ;  and  waiting  hearts  which 
have  ceased  from  self-will,  may  receive  leading  as  real  as 
ever  the  pillar  gave  to  Israel.  It  is  wonderful  how  much 
practical  wisdom  about  the  smallest  perplexities  of  daily 
life  comes  to  men  who  keep  both  their  feet  and  their  wishes 
still  until  Providence — or,  as  the  world  calls  it,  "  circum- 
stances " — clears  a  path  for  them.  Be  sure  of  this,  that  if 
we  are  content  to  see  but  one  step  at  a  time,  and  take  it, 
we  shall  find  our  way  made  plain. 

Do  not  let  your  wishes  get  in  advance  of  the  pillar  and 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  39 


the  ark,  and  you  will  be  kept  from  many  a  mistake,  and 
led  into  a  region  of  deep  peace.  The  old  injunction  is  still 
our  duty  and  our  wisdom,  "  Go  after  the  ark,  yet  there  shall 
be  a  space  between  it  and  you  ;  come  not  near  it  that  ye 
may  know  the  way  ye  ought  to  go."  If  we  impatiently 
press  too  close  on  the  heels  of  our  guide,  we  lose  the 
guidance.  There  must  be  a  reverent  following  which 
allows  vindications  of  the  way  full  time  to  develop  them- 
selves, and  does  not  fling  itself  into  new  circumstances  on 
the  first  blush  of  apparent  duty.  "  The  meek  will  He  guide 
in  judgment,  and  the  meek  will  He  teach  His  way." 

IV.  Our  craving  for  a  human  guide  has  been  lovingly 
met  in  the  gift  of  Christ.  Hobab's  experience  was  his 
qualification.  We  have  a  Brother  who  has  Himself 
travelled  every  foot  of  the  road  by  which  we  have  to  go, 
and  His  footsteps  have  marked  out  with  blood  a  track  for 
us  to  follow,  and  have  trodden  a  footpath  through  the  else 
pathless  waste.  He  knows  "how  to  encamp  in  the  wilder- 
ness" for  He  Himself  tabernacled  among  us.  His  life  is 
our  pattern.  Follow  your  leader,  and  plant  your  feet  in 
his  footprints.  That  is  the  sum  of  all  ethics  and  the  vade- 
mecum  for  practical  life.  To  Him  transfer  all  those 
feelings  of  confidence  and  affection  too  often  lavished  on 
men.  The  noblest  use  for  the  precious  ointment  of  love, 
which  the  poorest  of  us  bears  in  the  alabaster  box  of  the 
heart,  is  to  break  it  on  His  head. 

If  we  only  ask  him  to  be  with  us  "instead  of  eyes,"  and 
accept  His  gentle  leading,  we  shall  not  walk  in  darkness, 
but  may  plunge  into  thickest  night  and  the  most  unknown 
land,  assured  that  He  will  "  lead  us  by  a  right  way  to  the 
city  of  habitation." 

A.  M. 


XXIII.  Two  Prayers.  Num.  x.  35,  36.  "  And  it  came  to 
pass,  when  the  ark  set  forward,  that  Moses  said,  Rise  up,  Lord, 
and  let  thine  enemies  be  scattered;  .  .  .  and  when  it  rested, 
he  said,  Return,  O  Lord,  unto  the  many  thousands  of  Israel." 

Here  we  have  two  prayers — one  for  the  hours  of  warfare 
and  journeying,  another  for  the  hours  of  repose  and  recrea- 
tion.    Both  turn  to  the  one  thing,  the  symbolic  presence  of 


4o  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

God  in  that  ark  of  the  Covenant  ;  and  we  can  picture  to 
ourselves  the  glad  confidence  with  which  the  leader  of  the 
hosts  set  forth  on  the  morning  march,  and  the  quiet  security 
with  which  the  tents  of  Israel  couched  themselves  like 
sleeping  figures  round  the  vast  Tabernacle  as  the  night  fell, 
and  went  quietly  to  rest  with  an  unslumbering  eye  upon 
the  many  thousands  of  Israel.  We  may  very  fairly  take 
these  two  prayers  as  representing  for  us  the  temper  in  which 
we  ousdit  to  set  ourselves  to  the  various  works  of  life,  and 
the  temper  in  which  we  ought  to  give  ourselves  to  the 
restful  hours  of  quiet  and  repose  which  come  in  every  life 
however  stormy  or  turbulent. 

I.  Look  first  at  the  prayer  which  pertains  to  the  warfare 
and  journeying.  "  Rise  up,  Lord  ;  "  that  is  all  he  asks  ; 
simply  that  He  will  arise  ;  and  then  the  petition  rises 
into  prophecy,  "  and  thine  enemies  shall  be  scattered,  and 
them  that  hate  Thee  flee  before  Thee."  Look  at  the  mag- 
nificent confidence — simply  calling  upon  God.  And  then, 
to  take  the  figure  of  the  text,  he  represents  to  himself,  as 
it  were  in  a  moment,  all  the  antagonism  and  opposition 
disappearing. 

(i)  But  how  have  we  a  right  to  identify  our  poor  strug- 
gles and  conflicts,  with  Him  and  with  His  cause,  when  we 
say  at  the  beginning  of  our  various  work  and  warfare,  "Rise 
up,  Lord,  and  let  Thine  enemies  be  scattered  ?  "  These 
people  had  a  good  reason  for  it,  for  they  were  entitled  to 
believe  that  all  their  enemies  were  God's.  There  is  a  very 
plain  answer  to  this  question. 

Many  a  man  has  fiercely  and  fanatically  identified  his 
wishes  and  designs  with  the  Divine  purpose,  and  the 
hindrances  and  oppositions  he  has  met  with  he  has  iden- 
tified with  the  enemies  of  God.  But  we  have  no  right  to 
do  so  unless  we  are  quite  sure  that  we  are  upon  God's  side. 
If  we  are  quite  sure  that  we  are  fighting  not  for  our  own 
will  but  for  His,  then  we  may  be  quite  sure  that  all  which 
hinders  His  wall  is  His  enemy  as  well  as  ours.  Knowing 
the  defects  of  our  own  hearts,  and  trying  all  we  can  to  fulfil 
His  wishes  instead  of  our  own,  we  may  venture  then  to  take 
this  prayer  for  ours,  and  identify  our  cause  with  His,  and 
to  appeal  to  Him  to  guard  us  from  the  foes  that  oppose  us, 
because  they  are  His  foes  as  well  as  ours. 

(2)   Here  we  get  the  true  attitude  in  which  we  ought  to 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  41 

set  ourselves  to  the  effort,  and  do  the  work  of  daily  life. 
The  confidence  that  God  is  with  us  gives  rise  to  the  prayer 
that  He  will  be  with  us.  Remember  the  remarkable  lan- 
guage of  the  text — "  It  came  to  pass,  when  the  ark  set 
forward,  that  Moses  said,  Rise  up,  Lord."  It  was  done. 
It  was  done  before  he  asked  it ;  he  asked  it  before  it  was 
done.  Here  is  confidence  and  faith  which  comprehends 
and  believes  a  thing  as  a  fact  already  before  we  cry,  and 
makes  it  a  perpetual  fact  because  we  cry.  Or  to  put  it  in 
other  words  to  Christian  men  and  women,  if  you  want  God 
with  you  in  your  labour,  if  you  want  to  secure  Him  at  all 
times,  to  make  His  presence  perpetual,  to  have  Him  by 
you  in  the  hurly-burly  of  life, — pray !  He  has  arisen  for 
your  help,  but  if  you  want  that  He  shall  stand  by  your 
side  ready  to  help  you, — pray. 

Unless  we  found  our  confidence  upon  past  experience  of 
His  mercies  and  upon  present  faith,  they  are  not  prayers 
like  this  of  my  text.  The  prayer  of  the  Christian  should 
be  the  prayer  that  comprehends  the  fact  of  God's  loving 
presence  and  help,  and  makes  that  fact  perennial,  and  tries, 
as  it  were,  to  verify  it  continually  in  the  circle  of  our  ex- 
perience, as  in  that  wonderful  story  when  the  two  disciples 
were  walking,  and  by  the  way  their  heart  burned  within 
them.  When  the  Unknown  came  by  them,  and  the  even- 
ing was  falling,  and  they  were  near  the  little  house  where 
they  were  to  tarry  for  the  night,  the  stranger  made  as 
though  he  would  have  gone  further  on  the  straight  road, 
when  they  came,  perhaps,  to  the  little  bye-path  which  led 
to  the  house.  But  they  said,  "  Tarry  with  us,  for  it  is 
toward  evening,  and  the  day  is  far  spent."  And  so  He 
went  in  with  them.  If  they  had  not  asked  Him,  He  would 
not  have  abode  with  them — He  would  not  have  continued 
with  them  except  for  their  cry. 

So  He  who  has  risen  to  help  you,  and  who  stands  ready 
to  help  you  at  the  beginning  of  all  tasks,  needs  as  it  were 
to  be  bound  to  us  by  the  prayer  of  our  faith,  lest  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fight  we  shall  lift  up  our  eyes,  and  lo !  He 
is  not  there,  and  we  are  exposed,  undefended  and  unaccom- 
panied, to  the  assaults  of  the  enemy. 

II.  We  have  also  a  prayer  for  the  hour  of  rest,  "And 
when  it  rested."  When  the  tabernacle  was  pitched  and 
the  curtain  was  spread  about  it,  when  the   stars  were  coming 


42  OUTLINES   ON  THE 


out  by  ones  and  twos  about  the  desert  sky,  and  when  the 
smoke  of  the  simple  evening  meal  was  perhaps  rising,  and 
the  night  was  slowly  drawing  on,  he  said,  "  Return,  O 
Lord,  unto  the  many  thousands  of  Israel."  They  laid 
themselves  down  to  sleep,  and  as  the  darkness  deepened, 
the  fiery  cloudy  pillar  glowed  across  the  sands,  and  they 
were  safe  beneath  the  guardianship  of  the  Almighty.  The 
lesson  is,  that  we  want  God's  felt  presence  quite  as  much  in 
our  times  of  rest  as  in  our  times  of  work.  Plenty  of  people 
believe  that  they  want  Him  in  the  morning's  fight  who  do 
not  think  they  need  Him  nearly  so  much  in  the  evening's 
repose.  Many  realize  the  fact  that  when  the  great  difficul- 
ties and  trials  come  upon  us  we  need  His  help.  But  a  great 
many  do  not  realize  the  fact  that  for  the  quiet  moments, 
when  no  sinew  needs  to  be  braced  for  effort  and  no  heart 
needs  to  be  nerved  and  steeled  to  courage  and  endurance 
we  need  Him  even  more  ;  but  it  is  true.  The  hour  of  rest 
has  its  own  temptations — times  of  self-complacency,  times 
of  undue  depression.  When  the  wearied  body  and  the 
jaded  mind  are  fit  for  very  little,  then,  as  perhaps  at  no 
other  time,  do  certain  forms  of  evil  visit  us  ;  and  just  as 
when  the  vitality  is  low  and  depressed,  a  man  will  catch 
any  kind  of  fever  that  is  going,  so  when  we  are  wearied 
out  with  work  and  have  come  to  rest,  we  are  exposed  to 
the  assaults  of  all  insidious  temptations.  I  believe  that  for 
every  Christian  man  or  woman  that  lose  the  purity,  tender- 
ness, and  the  simplicity  of  their  Christian  character  in  the 
midst  of  work,  there  is  a  dozen  that  lose  it  amidst  the 
luxury  and  ease  of  rest.  It  is  the  way  in  which  you  spend 
your  evenings  and  your  leisure  that  will  determine  whether 
your  Christianity  will  be  vigorous.  It  is  of  no  use  going 
out  in  the  morning  to  the  struggle  of  daily  life  with  the 
prayer,  "  Rise  up,  Lord,"  unless  when  you  come  home  to 
rest  yourself  at  night,  you  say,  "  Return,  O  Lord." 

Is  it  not  beautiful  to  think  that  the  one  Presence  takes 
any  shape  that  a  man  wants  ?  When  he  needs  it  to  be  a 
spear  and  a  shield,  it  is  a  spear  and  a  shield  for  him  ;  when 
he  needs  it  to  be  a  pillow  on  which  to  rest  his  head,  it  is  a 
pillow  on  which  he  reposes. 

May  we  return  to  the  better  rest,  where  the  fight  is  done 
and  the  ark  of  the  Loid  shall  be  no  more  remembered  nor 
brought  to  mind,  for  all  the  holy  Jerusalem  shall  be  called 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  43 

the  throne  of  the  Lord  ;  and  there  shall  we  beat  our  swords 
into  ploughshares,  and  our  spears  into  pruning  hooks,  and 
the  nations  shall  study  war  no  more. 

A.  M. 


XXIV.  Even  from  Thence.  Deut.  iv.  29.  « But  if 
from  thence  thou  shalt  seek  the  Lord  thy  God,  thou  shalt  find 
Him,  if  thou  seekest  Him  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy 
soul" 

The  Book  of  Deuteronomy  was  designed  not  purely  for 
for  those  to  whom  it  was  first  addressed  by  Moses,  but  for 
all  the  Jews  of  all  after  times.  In  the  subsequent  history 
of  the  Jewish  nation,  this  promise  was  not  unfrequently  the 
only  light  that  shone  upon  them  in  the  cheerless  night  of 
their  calamity,  and  guided  by  it  they  returned  to  the  God 
of  their  fathers  and  obtained  deliverance.  Particularly  was 
this  the  case  in  the  time  of  their  captivity  in  Babylon. 

But  this  book  was  not  written  for  Jews  alone,  and  the 
promise  before  us  is  not  to  be  restricted  to  the  seed  of 
Abraham  according  to  the  flesh.  It  contains  within  it  the 
principles  of  God's  merciful  procedure  with  men  yet,  and 
assures  them  that  they  shall  find  God  if  they  seek  Him 
with  all  their  hearts. 

I.  Look  at  the  case  specified.  It  is  not  that  of  the 
sinner  who  is  hearing  of  God  and  of  His  mercy  for  the  first 
time. 

The  first  reference  of  this  promise  is  to  the  Jews,  who 
had  been  brought  up  in  the  knowledge  of  the  oracles  of 
God,  but  who,  in  spite  of  manifold  privileges,  had  become 
idolaters.  Now  where  shall  we  find  the  parallels  of  these 
sinners  under  the  New  Testament  dispensation  ? 

Not  in  the  heathen  abroad,  not  in  the  heathen  at  home ; 
but  this  promise  speaks  to  those  whose  guilt  is  of  deeper 
dye  than  theirs,  because  they  have  been  favoured  with  far 
higher  privileges  and  have  disregarded  them.  It  appeals 
to  those  who  have  been  taught  to  pray  beside  a  parent's 
knee,  who  have  been  members  of  the  Church,  but  who  have 
lapsed  into  one  or  other  of  the  many  forms  of  idolatry  that 
have  been  set  up  in  the  land — as  the  worship  of  mammon 


44  OUTLINES    ON  THE 

of  fame,  of  power,  of  self,  of  pleasure, — yet  even  to  them 
this  promise  comes,  the  assurance  that  if  they  return  God 
will  pardon. 

II.  The  blessing  promised  "  Thou  shalt  find  Him." 

To  many  this  promise  would  read  very  like  a  threatening, 
inasmuch  as  they  know  that  they  have  sinned  against 
God,  and  their  guilty  consciences  associate  Him  with  ven- 
geance. But  when  it  is  said  that  the  contrite  souls  shall 
find  God,  the  meaning  is  not  that  He  will  reveal  Himself 
to  them  in  their  punishment,  but  rather  that  He  will  make 
Himself  known  to  them  as  He  would  have  done  if  they  had 
never  wandered  away  from  Him.  They  shall  find  the  God 
whom  they  had  lost,  and  they  shall  find  Him  toward  them 
precisely  as  He  was  before  they  lost  Him.  Nor  is  this  all: 
the  contrite  sinner  shall  find  God  restoring  to  him  the 
title  to  the  heavenly  inheritance  which  he  had  forfeited. 

III.  The  qualification  annexed  to  the  promise.  "  If  thou 
seek  Him  with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul." 

Now  what  is  it  to  seek  God  !  It  cannot  be  a  mere  out- 
ward search.  We  need  not  look  for  Him  in  outward  forms 
or  ceremonies  of  worship,  we  need  not  seek  Him  in  fasting, 
or  in  prayer,  or  in  almsgiving.  We  need  not  seek  Him  in 
mere  external  reformation  of  conduct.  The  search  we  make 
must  be  spiritual.  Now  God  has  told  us  that  He  is  to  be 
found  in  Jesus  Christ,  when  we  come  to  Jesus  in  simple 
confiding  faith.  Christ  is  the  meeting  place  of  the  sinner 
and  his  God.  Jehovah  has  come  in  Christ  seeking  to 
reconcile  us  to  Himself,  and  if  we  wish  that  reconciliation 
we  must  go  for  it  to  God  in  Christ.  There  must  be  no 
half  heartedness  in  the  search,  no  mental  reservations ; 
nothing  but  our  unqualified  submission  of  the  soul  to  be 
saved  on  God's  terms,  and  in  God's  way.  This  is  seeking 
God  with  all  the  heart  and  soul. 

IV.  The  grounds  warranted  that  the  promise  is  to  be 
believed.     "  Whereby  shall  I  know  that  I  shall  inherit  it  ?  " 

Remember  that  this  is  God's  promise.  But  we  have 
something  more  than  the  word  of  God  to  rest  on  here,  for 
He  has  made  this  promise  over  sacrifice.  Go  to  Calvary 
and  behold  the  confirmation  given  there  to  this  precious 
promise. 

Then  God  has  performed  this  promise  in  numberless 
instances.     Manasseh,  the  penitent    thief,  Saul  of  Tarsus, 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  45 

the  Philippian  jailer,  all  found  God  by  seeking  Him  with 
all  their  heart. 

God  is  faithful  who  hath  promised,  and  His  word  is  as 
stable  as  His  throne. 

W.  M.  T. 


XXV.     The  Sabbath.     Deut.  v.   12.     "Keep  the  Sabbath 
day  to  sanctify  it,  as  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  commanded  thee." 

LET  us  enquire — first,  on  what  ground  and  on  what 
authority  is  one  day  in  seven  set  apart  from  all  other  days 
and  dedicated  to  Almighty  God  ?  secondly,  on  what 
ground  and  by  what  authority  is  the  first  day  of  the  week 
to  be  set  apart  and  hallowed  with  special  reverence  by 
itself?  and,  thirdly,  in  what  manner  ought  that  reverence 
to  be  paid  ? 

I.  First,  then,  on  what  ground  is  one  day  in  seven  to  be 
set  apart  as  holy  ?  In  replying  to  this  question,  we  may 
observe  that  it  is  a  natural  law  of  universal  application,  that 
Almighty  God  is  to  be  worshipped  ;  and  since  man  is 
created  in  order  to  exist  in  society  here  and  for  eternity, 
therefore  the  worship  of  God  ought  to  be  social.  But  the 
social  worship  of  God  cannot  be  maintained  until  stated 
times  be  appointed  for  that  purpose.  It  is  clear,  then,  even 
from  natural  reason,  that  some  stated  portion  of  time  ought 
to  be  set  apart  for  God's  service,  but  it  does  not  appear 
from  reason  alone  what  that  precise  portion  ought  to  be. 
But  here  Divine  revelation  comes  to  our  aid — holy  Scrip- 
ture informs  us  that  God  finished  the  work  of  creation  in 
six  days,  and  that  on  the  seventh  day  God  ended  His  work 
which  He  had  made,  and  God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and 
sanctified  it.  That  is,  He  set  it  apart  from  all  other  days, 
because  that  in  it  He  had  rested  from  all  His  works  which 
God  created  and  made.  Thus  the  setting  apart  of  one  day 
in  seven  days  from  the  creation,  not  from  the  giving  of  the 
Law  on  Mount  Sinai  to  the  Israelites.  The  manna  was 
given  from  heaven  before  the  Law  from  Mount  Sinai ;  and 
when  the  manna  was  given  the  seventh  day  was  holy. 
Thus  Almighty  God  brought  the  sanctity  of  the  Sabbath 
from  the  very  clouds  of  heaven  from  which  the  manna 
came.     Besides,  in  the  Decalogue  the  obligation  of  hallow- 


46  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

ing  one  day  in  seven  is  grounded  on  the  creation  itself. 
Again,  the  promulgation  of  the  Decalogue  was  not  the  en- 
actment of  a  new  code,  but  it  was  a  declaration  of  original 
law — a  republication  of  the  Divine  edicts  given  to  man 
at  the  beginning.  And  if  the  other  commandments  of 
the  Decalogue  have  a  moral  meaning  and  universal  ap- 
plication, as  undoubtedly  they  have,  can  we  imagine  that 
the  fourth  commandment,  which  was  placed  among  them 
by  the  hand  of  Almighty  God,  and  which  prescribes  the 
sanctiflcation  of  one  day  in  seven,  has  no  such  moral 
significance,  and  that  virtually  and  in  substance  it  has  no 
such  perpetual  application  ?  Can  we  suppose  that  a  code 
graven  with  the  finger  of  God  was  so  incoherently  framed  ? 
No.  Almighty  God  Himself  declares  the  indissolubility 
and  unity  of  the  code.  He  calls  it  in  Holy  Scripture,  not 
the  nine  commandments,  but  the  ten  commandments. 
And  our  Lord  says,  "  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,  keep 
the  commandments " ;  and  St.  James  teaches,  that  if  a 
man  break  one  commandment  he  is  guilty  of  all. 

Further,  it  is  indeed  true  that  we  do  not  see  the  moral 
fitness  of  setting  apart  the  seventh  portion  of  time  for 
sacred  uses  ;  but  it  does  not  therefore  follow  that  there  is 
not  some  moral  fitness  in  so  doing.  On  the  contrary,  it 
is  probable  that  there  is  such  a  fitness  even  in  the  very 
constitution  of  things.  Almighty  God  does  everything  in 
number  and  in  weight.  We  do  not  as  yet  understand  all 
the  sacred  harmonies  of  the  Divine  arithmetic.  They  may 
be  fully  revealed  to  us  hereafter,  when  we  listen  to  the 
music  of  heaven.  Perhaps  also  the  fourth  commandment 
may  be  better  adapted  than  any  to  be  the  instrument  in 
our  moral  probation,  and  to  try  and  test  our  faith  and 
obedience  to  Almighty  God,  which  are  the  very  essence  of 
our  moral  being.  In  doing  things  of  which  we  ourselves 
see  the  reason,  we  may  be  obeying  ourselves,- and  not  be 
obeying  God;  and  therefore  Almighty  God  often  tests 
our  faith  and  obedience  by  things  of  which  we  do  not  see 
the  reason. 

II.  Let  us  now  pass  on  to  consider  upon  what  ground  is 
the  first  day  of  the  week  to  be  hallowed  by  us.  According 
to  the  argument  just  now  used,  ought  we  not,  it  may  be 
asked,  observe  the  seventh  day  of  the  week  and  not  the 
first  day  ?     Ought  we  not  to  keep  Saturday  only  and  not 


OLD    TESTA M EXT  47 


Sunday  ?  To  this  we  may  reply,  we  should  be  obliged  to 
do  so  if  we  had  only  one  Testament.  But  we  have  the 
Gospel  as  well  as  the  Law,  and  Christ  who  preached  the 
Gospel  came  to  explain  and  to  fulfil  the  Law.  He  showed 
by  His  mighty  works  that  He  is  equal  to  and  one  with  the 
Almighty  Being  who  delivered  the  Law  upon  Mount  Sinai. 
He  proved  Himself  to  be  what  He  came  to  be — the  Lord 
of  the  Sabbath.  But  He  came  to  infuse  into  it  a  new  life, 
to  breathe  into  it  a  new  spirit,  and  to  invest  it  with  fresh 
dignity.  He  came  to  separate  what  was  merely  ceremonial 
and  temporary  in  the  fourth  commandment  from  what  is 
moral  and  perpetual.  He  came  to  confirm  the  separation 
of  one  day  to  God,  and  to  change  the  position  of  the  day 
dedicated  to  God.  He  came  to  teach  us  that  we  still  owe 
the  seventh  part  of  our  time  to  God,  and  that  this  debt 
is  to  be  paid,  not  at  the  end  of  every  week,  but  at  the  begin- 
ning of  it.  And  so  the  first  fruits  of  every  week  of  our 
lives  are  to  be  consecrated  to  Almighty  God.  There  is 
something  significant  in  the  fact,  that  Jesus  Christ  having 
rested  the  seventh  day  in  the  grave,  raised  Himself  from 
the  tomb  very  early  in  the  morning  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  and  vouchsafed  His  presence  to  His  assembled 
apostles  on  that  day,  and  said  :  "  Peace  be  unto  you." 
There  was  something  significant  in  the  fact  that  He  did 
not  present  Himself  again  to  His  assembled  apostles  till 
the  first  day  of  the  week  had  again  come  round.  Thus  we 
may  say  that  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  died  and  was  buried 
with  Christ,  and  that  it  rose  with  Him  from  the  tomb,  and 
emerged  with  fresh  beauty  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
and  received  a  new  name,  and  was  baptised  into  Christ, 
and  became  the  Lord's  Day. 

Further,  when  Christ  ascended  into  heaven  He  did  not 
forget  the  first  day  of  the  week,  His  own  day.  He  imparted 
another  privilege  to  it.  On  the  first  day  of  the  week  He 
gave  His  best  gift  to  the  Church;  on  that  day  He  sent 
the  Holy  Ghost  from  heaven.  Thus,  then,  we  see  the  ever 
blessed  Trinity  united  together  in  consecrating  the  first 
day  of  the  week.  The  first  day  is  holy  to  God  the  Father, 
who  began  to  create  the  world  on  this  day  ;  it  is  holy  to 
God  the  Son,  who  rose  from  the  dead  on  this  day  ;  and  it 
is  holy  to  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter,  that  came 
down  from  heaven  on  this  day.     I  hus  for  more  than  eigh- 


48  OUTLINES    ON   THE 


teen  centuries  this  day  has  been  singing  a  weekly  hallelujah 
to  the  ever  blessed  Trinity. 

Further,  the  practice  of  the  apostles  proclaims  the  sanc- 
tity of  one  day  in  seven,  and  declares  the  sacredness  of  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  and  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  sitting  in 
His  royal  majesty  in  heaven,  poured  down  a  blessing  upon 
that  day,  by  revealing  Himself  three  times  in  glory  to 
the  beloved  apostle  and  evangelist  St.  John  in  the  Isle  of 
Patmos,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  has  shed  His  holy  unction  on 
this  day  by  putting  into  St.  John's  mouth  the. words  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Book  of  Revelation  :  "  I  was  in  the  spirit 
on  the  Lord's  Day." 

III.  It  now  remains  to  answer  in  what  manner  the  Lord's 
Day  is  to  be  observed  by  us. 

(i)  It  is  the  day  of  rest.  It  is  a  great  mistake  which 
some  commit  in  imagining  that  by  treating  the  Sabbath  as 
a  day  of  rest  from  worldly  pleasure  we  imitate  the  Jews. 
Let  any  one  examine  the  writings  of  the  ancient  Christian 
fathers,  and  he  will  find  that  they  often  censure  the  Jews 
because  they  would  not  work  on  the  Sabbath,  yet  they  did 
not  scruple  to  spend  it  in  worldly  pleasure.  The  fact  is, 
that  those  persons  are  the- real  Judaisers  who  observe  the 
Sabbath  by  worldly  amusement.  The  Christian  Sunday  is 
a  day  of  rest  for  this  lower  world.  Here  is  not  our  rest. 
Here  we  have  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come, 
where  the  Christian  Sunday  is  a  day  of  rest  from  this 
world's  cares  and  toil,  and  it  is  a  day  of  rest  to  God. 

(2)  But  the  Christian  Sunday  is  more  than  a  day  of  rest, 
it  is  the  Lord's  Day — not  our  day,  not  man's  day,  not  the 
Tempter's  day,  but  the  Lord's  Day — and  profaned  when- 
ever it  is  spent  in  secular  business  or  worldly  pleasure. 

(3)  Again,  it  is  the  day  of  resurrection.  It  is  the  day  of 
Christ's  resurrection,  and  the  day  of  the  spiritual  resurrec- 
tion of  every  true  member  of  Christ.  Every  successive 
Sabbath  ought  to  find  us  more  disengaged  from  earth  and 
nearer  to  heaven. 

(4)  It  is  also  a  day  of  light.  On  it  the  light  of  Christ 
sprang  forth,  the  Light  of  the  world  rose  from  the  grave, 
the  light  of  the  Holy  Ghost  came  down  from  heaven.  Let 
us,  therefore,  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness,  and  put  on  the 
armour  of  light.  Our  Sundays  are  the  days  on  which  we 
open  our  hearts  to  the  melodies  of  the  blessed.     Thus  we 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  49 


may  become  more  fit  for  heaven.  Thus,  though  in  our 
earthly  course  we  have  lain  among  the  pots  in  the  brick 
kilns  of  Egypt,  yet  we  may  plume  our  feathers  and  gird 
them  for  the  heavenly  flight,  and  our  souls  may  have  the 
wings  of  a  dove,  whose  wings  are  as  silver  and  her  feathers 
as  gold. 

C.  W. 


XXVI.      The    Finality    of   the    Ten    Command- 
ments.    Deut.  v.  2  2.     "  And  He  adde  1 1:0  moi e." 

THESE  words  may  be  very  sad  or  they  may  be  very  joyous. 
We  cannot  tell  what  they  are  merely  from  reading  them — 
it  is  needful  to  go  a  little  into  the  circumstances  in  order 
that  we  may  catch  their  precise  significance.  Moses  has 
first  copied  down  the  commandments  as  they  were  given 
to  him  by  the  Lord,  and  having  gone  through  the  whole 
Ten  Words,  as  these  commandments  were  anciently  called, 
he  says  :  "  He,"  that  is  "  God,"  "  added  no  more."  He  did 
not  give  eleven  commandments  ;  He  gave  ten.  Man  must 
stop  where  God  stops  as  he  must  begin  where  God  began. 
The  words  would  be  sad  if  the  Lord  had  turned  away  in 
anger,  saying,  "I  will  not  speak  again  unto  you"  ;  but  they 
may  be  very  joyous,  yea,  musical  after  a  heavenly  sort, 
when  God  has  said  just  enough  to  meet  the  necessity  and 
the  weakness  of  man,  and  when  He  forbears  to  add  one 
word  that  would  overtax  his  strength  and  throw  his  dying 
hope  into  melancholy  and  despair. 

I.  You  have  something  like  completeness  of  law  in  these 
ten  commandments — a  completeness  adapted  to  the  time 
in  which  they  were  delivered.  God  Himself  puts  the  full 
stop  to  the  legal  literature  which  He  has  written  on  the 
two  tables  of  stone.  His  delight  is,  as  little  as  may  be 
needful  for  proper  discipline,  and  to  secure  loyal,  loving 
and  sufficient  obedience.  Has  He  written  all  the  universe 
over  with  commandments  ?  He  has  written  the  universe 
over  with  promises  and  blessings,  and  here  and  there  His 
commanding  word  is  written — for  too  many  benedictions 
and  promises,  untempered  by  these  severer  words,  might 
lead  us  into  presumption,  and  might  end  in  making  us 
molluscous  instead  of  strong  and  grand.     This  is  a  kind  of 

E 


50  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

authority  which  begets  love  and  thankfulness.  God  never 
shows  me  His  power  merely  for  the  sake  of  inspiring  me 
with  awe.  When  I  see  the  universe  I  see  the  suppression 
of  His  almightiness,  not  its  extent,  not  its  abundance. 
God  has  given  me  a  memory  short  and  shadowed.  He 
could  have  turned  it  into  a  daily  plague  by  the  multitude 
of  His  commandments  and  requirements ;  He  gives  me 
ten,  it  is  enough,  by  and  by  He  will  shorten  them  into 
one.  Here  is  the  authority  of  gentleness,  authority  limited 
to  my  condition,  stooping  to  my  capacity. 

II.  What  marvellous  commandments  these  are  when 
looked  at  in  their  simplicity.  They  are  ten  speeches  to 
little  children.  These  are  not  commandments  for  the 
manhood  of  the  world,  but  for  its  child-age.  "  He  added 
no  more."  It  was  beautiful  in  its  tenderness,  it  was  divine 
in  its  pathos.  The  commandments  are  not  abolished,  they 
are  fulfilled,  glorified,  carried  up  to  their  highest  interpre- 
tation and  most  beneficent  meanings.  Jesus  Christ  said, 
"  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy,  I  am  not  come  to 
destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfil  it,"  to  carry  it  on  to  its  higher 
meanings.  Now  how  does  He  deliver  the  ten  command- 
ments ?  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal,"  becomes  "  If  you  would 
like  to  steal,  you  have  stolen."  He  digs  down  the  outer 
wall  and  searches  into  the  chambers  of  imagery,  and  there, 
on  the  walls  around,  are  seen  symbols  and  images  and 
faces  and  pantomimes  of  evil  that  the  heart  does  and  that 
the  life  would  like  to  do.     So  we  who  are  in  Christ  are  not 

jjnder  the  law,  and  yet  we  are  under  the  law  as  Israel 
'never  was.  Jesus  Christ  has  given  one  commandment — 
will  it  be  easier  to  keep  one  than  ten  ?  "  A  new  com- 
mandment I  give  unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  another,"  and 
we  all  must  confess  "  I  count  not  myself  to  have  attained, 
but  press  towards  the  mark." 

III.  How  easy  for  Christ  to  lay  down  the  law.  No,  He 
did  not  lay  it  down  ;  He  did  it.  He  became  obedient  unto 
death,  even  the  Cross-death,  that  He  might  redeem  us. 
"By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  My  disciples," — 
not  if  you  utter  the  same  theological  Shibboleth,  but  by 
this  "  if  ye  have  love  one  to  another."  Love  is  the  highest 
exposition,  love  is  the  profoundest  criticism,  of  Christianity. 
Love  repeats  the  cr  jss  and  sets  the  crown  above  its  bleed- 
ing head.  J.  P. 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


XXVII.  The  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  Deut.  xvL 
[3-17.  "  Thou  shalt  observe  the  feast  of  tabernacles  seven  days, 
after  that  thou  hast  gathered  hi  thy  corn  and  thy  wine :  every 
man  shall  give  as  he  is  able,  according  to  the  blessing  of  the 
Lord  thy  God  which  He  hath  given  thee. 

The  three  great  feasts  of  Israel — the  Passover,  the  Feast  of 
Weeks  or  Pentecost,  and  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles — were 
not  only  commemorative  of  national  blessings  or  prophetic 
of  yet  greater  spiritual  blessings  to  be  bestowed,  but  they 
were  conspicuously  connected  with  the  three  great  seasons 
of  the  tillage  of  Palestine — the  barley  and  the  wheat 
harvests  and  the  vintage.  This  Feast  of  Tabernacles  was 
the  most  joyous  of  them  all.  Above  and  beyond  all  other 
marks  of  joy  and  utterances  of  thanksgiving,  the  law  laid 
stress  on  the  thankofferings  of  love.  Men  were  not  to 
appear  before  the  Lord  empty.  The  law,  "  Freely  ye  have 
received,  freely  give,"  applies  to  the  natural  as  well  as  to 
the  spiritual  life,  and  there  can  be  no  true  fulfilment  in  the 
latter  if  it  is  neglected  in  the  former.  Harvest  festivals 
are  valuable  in  this  age. 

I.  They  tell  us  of  the  truth  which  we  are  constantly 
tempted  to  forget — that  the  God  of  grace  is  also  the  God 
of  nature ;  that  the  Son  of  God  is  also  the  Divine  Word, 
the  Eternal  Wisdom,  by  whom  all  laws  of  nature  are 
ordained  ;  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  also  the  Lord  and  Giver 
of  life,  and  that  not  only  are  all  holy  thoughts  and  desires 
His  gifts,  but  that  even  the  skill  of  the  artist  and  the  builder 
speak  of  a  wisdom  for  all  manner  of  workmanship  which  is 
His  gift.  Harvest  thanksgivings  help  us  to  look  out  on 
the  world  of  nature  and  of  men  with  more  large-hearted 
sympathies. 

II.  They  bear  their  witness  that  we  believe  that  the  laws 
of  nature  are  the  expression  of  an  Almighty  Father's  will, 
and  that  we  accept  its  workings,  not  with  simple  submission, 
but  with  thankfulness  and  trust. 

III.  They  bring  us  into  fellowship  with  the  old  religious 
life  of  Israel.  It  adds  to  the  interest  with  which  we  think 
of  this  feast,  to  remember  that  one  large  and  important 
part  of  our  Lord's  teaching  was  connected  with  it.  The 
history  of  one  Feast  of  Tabernacles  occupies  four  chapters 


52  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

of  St.  John's  Gospel.  Its  ritual  was  present  to  the  eyes  of 
men,  and  to  His  own  thoughts,  when  He  stood  and  cried, 
"  I  am  the  Light  of  the  world.  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him 
come  unto  Me  and  drink." 

E.  H.  P. 


XXVIII.    The  Dwelling-Place  of  the  Soul.     Deut. 

xxxiii.  27*  "  The  eternal  God  is  thy  refuge,  and  underfieath 
are  the  everlasting  arms :  and  He  shall  thrust  out  the  enemy 
from  before  thee  ;  and  shall  say,  Destroy  them." 

It  is  not  a  little  significant  that  the  last  words  of  Moses, 
the  lawgiver  of  the  old  covenant,  should  have  been  words 
of  blessing  (ver.  i).  The  man  whom  we  associate  with  the 
tremendous  judgment  that  fell  on  Egypt,  and  with  the 
awful  majesty  of  Sinai,  and  whose  very  name  has  become 
almost  synonymous  with  the  terrors  of  the  law,  here  closes 
his  life  by  blessing  Israel.  Moses'  first  public  act  was 
slaying  the  Egyptian  ;  his  last,  as  he  stood  on  the  borders 
of  the  eternal  world,  and  when,  if  ever,  the  true  meaning 
and  end  of  all  God's  dealings  with  Israel  would  be  most 
clear  to  him,  was  the  pronouncing  a  solemn  and  formal 
blessing  on  the  people  he  had  loved  and  served  so  well — a 
blessing  that,  at  the  end  of  such  a  life  as  his,  came  like  the 
benediction  after  prayer.  It  is  only  one  out  of  many 
proofs  of  which  the  Old  Testament  is  full,  that  just  as  we 
have  a  law  in  the  Gospel,  so  to  the  ancient  people  of  God 
there  was  a  Gospel  in  the  law.  The  lawgiver  dies  with 
words  of  mercy  on  his  lips. 

And  how  infinitely  precious  would  such  a  promise  as 
that  contained  in  our  text,  and  which  is  the  sum  of  all 
the  blessings  that  had  gone  before,  be  to  Israel  at  this 
time.  They  had  been  wandering,  homeless  and  houseless, 
in  the  desert  for  forty  long  years  ;  now  they  hear  the 
"  Eternal  God  "  is  to  be  "their  dwelling  place."  They  had 
often  been  tempted  to  doubt  whether  God  was  really  with 
them  or  not,  and  to  give  way  to  doubts  and  fears  :  now 
they  are  assured  that  though  God  is  in  heaven,  He  is  also 
with  them  on  earth,  and  stoops  to  lay  "  underneath  them 
the  everlasting  arms,"  bearing  them  and  their  cares  too. 
They  were  looking  forward  to  the  promised  land,  but  its 


OLD    TESTAMENT, 


->3 


possession  was  to  be  gained  only  after  a  terrible  conflict 
with,  and  overthrow  of,  their  enemies,  and  now  they  are 
taught  this  same  God  shall  fight  their  battles  for  them  : 
"  He  shall  thrust  out  the  enemy  from  before  thee,  and 
shall  say,  Destroy  them."  And  so  Israel  found  every 
blessing  it  most  needed  contained  in  this  single  promise  : 
an  abiding  and  unchanging  dwelling-place  where  "  no  evil " 
could  ever  "befall"  them  ;  an  " everlasting  arm"  to  sustain 
and  support  them,  strong  enough  to  bear  every  burden  and 
every  care  ;  and  a  Divine  Presence  pledged  to  go  before 
them,  whom  no  foe  could  affright,  but  who  would  beat 
down  all  their  enemies  beneath  their  feet. 

Read  in  this  way,  the  words  of  our  text  are  as  full  of 
meaning  and  comfort  for  us  as  they  were  for  the  Jews,  and 
we  may  try  and  learn  some  of  the  lessons  they  ought  to 
teach  us. 

The  key  to  the  whole  promise  is  in  the  opening  words, 
"  The  eternal  God  is  thy  dwelling-place."  Let  us  endeavour 
to  understand  what  this  means. 

I.  There  is  a  sense,  it  hardly  need  be  said,  in  which  God 
is  the  "dwelling-place"  of  every  human  soul.  "In  Him, 
says  St.  Paul,  and  he  is  speaking  of  mankind  generally, 
"  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being."  To  use  a  very 
imperfect  illustration,  but  the  only  one  that  gives  even  a 
feeble  conception  of  the  truth,  just  as  the  atmospheric  air 
encompasses  the  earth,  the  breath  of  all  life,  within  us 
quite  as  much  as  without  us,  itself  unseen  though  every- 
where making  its  presence  felt,  so  the  "  Eternal  God "  is 
Himself  the  One  Infinite  and  Invisible  Life  in  which  "  all 
things  subsist."  The  creature  lives  only  as  it  lives  in 
God. 

II.  But,  in  a  far  higher  sense  than  this,  the  people  of 
God  "dwell"  in  Him.  They  are  not  only  sustained,  in 
common  with  all  living  things,  by  His  life,  but  they  actually 
and  consciously  share  it ;  through  their  union  with  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  they  have  "become  partakers  of  a 
Divine  nature,"  and  their  life,  to  use  St.  Paul's  words,  "is 
hid  with  Christ  in  God." 

III.  Now,  if  this  be  true,  some  very  grave  consequences 
follow.  Many  Christians  are  accustomed  to  go  to  God  as 
their  strength  in  times  of  weakness,  or  to  flee  to  Him  as  a 
"  very  present  help  in  trouble  ; "  but  they  forget  that  God 


54  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

has  just  as  much  to  do  with  their  life  when  they  are  strong 
and  glad,  as  He  has  when  they  are  troubled  and  heavy- 
laden.  When  the  clouds  gather,  and  the  sunshine  of  life 
is  darkened,  and  the  storm  breaks  upon  them,  they  turn  to 
Him  to  protect  them  ;  but  when  the  storm  has  passed  by, 
and  all  is  bright  and  fair  again,  they  leave  Him,  as  if  now 
they  could  walk  alone.  They  make  God  their  "  refuge  ; " 
they  forget  He  is  "  their  dwelling-place."  They  are  thank- 
ful for  Him  as  a  "hiding-place"  for  a  little  while ;  they  do 
not  remember  He  is  more  than  this,  He  is  their  home.  But 
if  they  were  continually  mindful  of  this  fact,  how  completely 
it  would  alter  their  lives !  To  think  there  is  not  one  thing 
in  my  daily  life  that  I  have  to  do  alone,  not  one  trouble 
that  comes  to  me  that  I  have  to  bear  alone,  not  one  joy  I 
have  to  share  alone,  not  one  purpose  I  may  make  alone, 
not  one  sin  I  am  to  fight  alone  ;  to  know  that  the  least 
event  in  my  history,  quite  as  much  as  the  greatest,  does 
not  happen  to  me  alone,  but  that  God  shares  my  life  with 
me,  and  that  at  every  moment  I  am  dwelling  in  Him  ;  to 
realize  this  would  be  almost  a  revolution,  although  a  most 
blessed  one,  in  many  lives.  How  many  things  would  be 
left  undone  that  are  now  done,  how  many  troubles  that 
crush  us  now  would  seem  easy  to  be  borne  ;  what  a  new 
sanctity  and  sweetness  would  fill  our  joys ;  what  deeper 
responsibility  would  invest  all  our  plans  and  purposes  for 
the  future ;  what  victories  we  should  gain  over  sin  where 
hitherto  there  have  been  only  defeats  ;  what  greatness  and 
sacredness  of  meaning  would  attach  itself  to  the  common 
things  of  our  daily  life,  if  once  we  felt  the  truth  of  these 
words,  "  The  Eternal  God  is  thy  dwelling-place." 

Of  course  everything  else  that  Moses  declared  was  con- 
tained in  this  blessed  fact  we  should  find  true.  We  should 
never  be  crushed  with  the  care  or  the  burdens  of  life.  How 
could  we,  when  we  were  not  bearing  them  by  ourselves, 
but  "  underneath  were  the  everlasting  arms  "  ?  We  should 
never  be  afraid  of  meeting  any  foe,  and  never  despair  of 
victory  in  the  most  desperate  fight.  How  could  we  when 
we  knew  that  "  greater  was  He  that  was  with  us  than  all 
they  that  were  against  us,"  and  were  trusting  in  Him  to 
"  thrust  out  the  enemy  from  before  us,  and  to  say,  Destroy 
them "  ?  Very  few  of  us  can  tell  what  our  lives  might 
become  if  once  we  realized  all  the  meaning  of  the  words, 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


55 


"Whosoever  shall  confess  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God, 
God  dwelleth  in  him  and  he  in  God." 

G.  S.  B. 


XXIX.     Courage.     Josh.  1.  5,  6.     UI will  not  fail  thce>  nor 
forsake  thee.     Be  strong  and  of  a  good  courage." 

The  leading  trait  in  the  character  of  Joshua  as  given  to  us 
in  Holy  Scripture  is  courage.  There  are  indeed  other 
points  of  character  well  worthy  of  consideration  and  imita- 
tion, as  the  Christian  might  well  expect.  The  character 
of  Joshua,  unlike  that  of  many  of  God's  servants,  stands 
before  us  without  reproach.  In  his  famous  address  we  see 
the  habitual  humility  of  his  character,  in  ascribing  all  the 
past  successes  of  his  life  to  God — "  for  the  Lord  your  God 
is  He  that  hath  fought  for  you."  God  gives  him,  in  the 
words  of  our  text,  the  assurance  of  His  support  and  pre- 
sence. 

I.  The  real  lesson  of  Joshua's  character  is  not  merely 
the  example  of  a  soldier's  courage,  but  of  intrepidity  built 
on  faith.  Loss  of  hope,  despondency,  and  then  indifference, 
are  distinct  forms  of  temptations  to  young  Christians  in 
the  present  day.  Too  many  who  should  be  the  natural 
leaders  of  the  young  to  fresh  victories,  and  a  securer  peace, 
bring  back,  as  it  were,  an  evil  report  of  the  land,  and  dis- 
courage the  people.  Either  they  say  the  land  is  altogether 
unknowable,  a  land  of  mist  and  cloud,  or  they  speak  of 
Christianity  as  powerless  to  win  the  land  that  may  be  yet 
before  the  people.  The  cross  is  too  old  a  weapon  ;  we  must 
look  for  something  new.  This  is  all  an  untrue  report. 
Christianity  has  plenty  of  untrodden  ground  before  her  ; 
it  is  not  all  mist  and  doubt  around  us  ;  we  can  see  already 
many  points  where  new  victories  may  be  won.  In  the 
region  of  the  intellect  there  is  uncultivated  ground,  and  not 
less  so  is  there  in  that  of  morals. 

II.  Another  lesson  may  be  gathered  from  the  life  of 
Joshua,  namely,  that  before  the  battle  of  his  life  began, 
before  he  became  the  leader  of  his  brethren,  he  was  with 
Moses  in  the  Mount.  This  is  a  true  preparation  for  a 
brave  life,  a  youth  spent  in  communion  with  God.  To  be 
a  leader  implies  standing  out  alone,  and  for  solitude  there 


56  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

is  but  one  remedy,  the  remedy  of  our  Divine  Master  : 
"  And  yet  I  am  not  alone,  because  the  Father  is  with  me." 
If  you  would  be  free  of  all  fear,  begin  early  to  fear  God. 
A  youth  spent  with  God  will  make  you  independent  of  the 
terrors  of  the  world.  Then,  when  difficulties  arise,  Joshua's 
God  will  make  Himself  known,  assuring  you  of  His  loving 
presence  :  "  I  will  be  with  thee,  I  will  not  fail  thee  nor  for- 
sake thee." 

E.  K. 


XXX.     The  Untrodden    Path.     Josh.  iii.  4.     "Ye  have 
n ot passed  this  way  heretofore." 

The  tribes  of  Israel  had  come  to  the  brink  of  Jordan  when 
Joshua  spoke  the  words  of  our  text.  The  crossing  of  the 
river  was  the  only  difficulty  lying  between  them  and 
Canaan.  Joshua  had  issued  minute  directions  to  the  host 
as  to  the  order  and  manner  of  crossing,  and  as  if  to  ensure 
careful  attention  to  his  instructions,  he  adds,  "  Ye  have  not 
passed  this  way  heretofore." 

I.  The  crossing  of  the  Jordan  may  stand  to  us  for  any 
new  experience  of  peculiar  uncertainty  through  which  we 
are  called  to  pass  ;  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  may  be  taken 
for  God's  presence  with  His  people,  and  the  direction  to 
keep  it  in  view  as  being  the  true  safeguard  of  the  Christian, 
letting  nothing  come  between  him  and  the  perception  of 
the  truth  that  God  in  Christ  is  reconciling  the  world  to 
Himself,  and  guiding  His  people  to  safety  and  blessedness. 
Put  the  ark  of  God  in  the  river  before  you  and  keep  it  in 
view,  then,  though  it  be  overflowing  all  its  banks,  you  shall 
go  over  dry  shod. 

II.  This  principle  is  appropriate  to  those  who  are  face  to 
face  with  a  difficult  duty  which  is  new  to  them. 

III.  This  principle  applies  to  those  who  are  called  upon 
to  bear  some  heavy  trial  for  the  first  time.  Sorrow  in  some 
form  must  come  upon  us  in  the  world.  But  the  common- 
ness does  not  make  it  one  whit  less  bitter.  No  matter 
what  else  we  look  to,  we  shall  still  find  ourselves  in  the 
swelling  of  the  river  ;  but  the  moment  we  see  Jesus  our 
feet  stand  on  dry  ground. 

IV.  This  principle  applies  to  our  own  death.     Nothing 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  57 


can  acquaint  us  with  this  path  but  the  treading  of  it  for 
ourselves.  But  Jesus  by  His  own  death  and  resurrection 
has  put  the  ark  before  us,  and  looking  at  that  we  shall  find 
the  river  dry. 

W.  M.  T. 


XXXI.  Success  in  God's  Work.  Josh.  iii.  5.  "And 
Joshua  said  unto  the  people,  Sa?ictify  yourselves,  for  to-morrow 
the  Lord  will  do  wonders  among  you" 

A  FRESHNESS  and  purity  as  of  morning  dew,  a  glory  as  of 
sunlight,  seems  to  gather  round  those  words,  spoken  in  the 
morning  of  a  nation's  youth.  As  they  were  spoken  there 
lies  behind  the  speaker  and  the  hearers  a  past  altogether 
unique,  and  there  lies  before  them  a  certain  future,  certain 
because  assured  by  Divine  promise  of  it.  God's  purpose 
was  ripe,  and  the  hour  of  conquest  was  on  the  stroke  ;  all 
that  remained  for  them  to  do  was  to  prepare  themselves  for 
its  fulfilment.     "  Sanctify  yourselves." 

Let  us  look  at  these  words  as  transparent  with  the  light 
of  an  inner  meaning,  a  wider  and  more  glorious  hope. 
They  set  before  us  the  cause  and  the  condition  of  the 
Church's  success,  the  cause  being  Divine  power,  and  the 
condition  personal  consecration. 

I.  The  condition  of  success  in  the  work  of  God  to  which 
the  Church  is  called,  is  holiness,  or  personal  consecration. 
Three  ideas  naturally  occur  to  our  minds  as  included  in 
this  word  "holiness"  as  used  in  the  Bible — purity,  conse- 
cration, and  obedience. 

(1)  Spiritual  purity  means  power,  and  it  means  beauty. 
It  has  a  passive  side  set  forth  in  many  parts  of  Scripture. 
"  Then  will  I  sprinkle  water  upon  them,  and  you  shall  flee 
from  all  your  iniquity,  and  from  all  your  transgression  will 
I  cleanse  you."  But  it  has  just  as  truly  an  active  side. 
"  Cleanse  your  hands,  ye  sinners,  and  purify  your  hearts  ye 
double-minded." 

(2)  Consecration  is  a  giving  to  the  Lord.  That  person, 
possession,  thing,  or  whatever  it  may  be,  is  consecrated 
which  is  given  to  God  according  to  His  will  and  pleasure. 
The  greatest  type  of  consecration  in  Scripture  is  that  of 
the  priest. 


53  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

(3)  The  idea  of  obedience.  How  is  any  real  practical 
idea  of  holiness  possible  without  obedience?  For  what  is 
sin  but  disobedience  ?  But  these  three — purity,  consecra- 
tion, and  obedience — do  not  set  before  us  anything  like  a 
complete  idea  of  what  the  Bible  means  by  holiness.  It 
must  have  an  inner  life  of  which  these  are  but  the  outer 
manifestations.  The  very  heart  of  it  is  the  indwelling 
presence  of  God's  Holy  Spirit.  "  If  any  man  has  not  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His."  Is  not  this  the  highest 
testimony  to  the  glory  and  greatness  of  our  nature,  that 
nothing  else  can  be  salvation  but  the  indwelling  of  God's 
Spirit,  making  our  very  bodies  temples  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ? 
Therefore,  this  inner  life  of  holiness  must  needs  include  a 
spiritual  renewing — a  heavenward,  God  ward  direction  of 
the  affections. 

There  can  be  no  greater  mistake  than  to  confound 
feeling  with  affection,  except  the  still  more  fatal  mistake  of 
confounding  feeling  with  faith.  There  may  be  a  great  show 
of  feeling  in  a  very  shallow  soul ;  and  there  may  be  deep 
roots,  both  of  faith  and  feeling,  where  the  upper  surface  of 
the  soul  is  all  charred  over  with  the  fires  of  trial,  all  frosty 
with  sorrow  or  trodden  down  under  unsympathising  feet. 
There  may  be  a  deep  and  faithful  love  in  the  very  heart 
that  is  perhaps  chiding  itself  and  wearying  itself  with 
bitter  self-rebuke,  because  its  love  to  God  is  so  cold.  There 
is  something  deeper  still.  These  affections  may  have  a 
rooted  holiness,  as  the  Bible  signifies — a  loving  hold  upon 
a  loving  Saviour. 

One  thing  seems  to  follow  very  plainly,  that  holiness  is 
an  intensely  practical  thing,  a  principle  of  Christian  activity. 
There  can  be  no  holiness  without  effort,  without  work.  If 
God  works  in  us,  He  works  in  us  "  both  to  will  and  to  do." 

II.  The  cause  of  the  Church's  success  is  the  Divine 
power.  Christ  has  not  said  "  Follow  Me"  to  any  one  to 
whom  He  has  not  also  said,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for 
thee,  My  strength  is  made  perfect  in  thy  weakness."  When 
God  says  "  Sanctify  yourselves,"  it  is  the  height  of  pre- 
sumption and  unbelief  for  us  to  sit  down  and  say  we  cannot 
do  it.  Is  it  true  that  the  light  is  waiting  for  the  light- 
bearers  ;  that  the  power  to  be  put  forth  is  waiting  for  the 
condition  on  which  it  has  pleased  God  to  suspend  it  ?  Yes, 
the  power  is  there.     We  dare  not  doubt  that  the  Lord  is 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  59 


able  to  do  wonders.  "  Awake,  awake,  O  arm  of  the  Lord. 
Put  on  thy  strength  as  in  the  ancient  days."  Hark !  what 
is  the  answer  ?  "  Awake,  awake,  O  Jerusalem  !  put  on  thy 
beautiful  garments.  Arise,  and  shake  thyself  from  the 
dust,  O  captive  daughter  of  Zion." 

"  Sanctify  yourselves,"  and  doubt  not  that  the  Lord  will, 
yea,  to-morrow,  do  wondrous  things. 

E.  C. 


XXXII.  The  Covenant  of  Joshua.  Josh.  xxiv.  25. 
"So  Joshua  made  a  covenant  with  the  people  that  day,  and 
set  them  a  statute  and  an  ordinance  in  Shechem? 

"That  day"  was  a  very  notable  day  in  the  annals  of 
Israel  ;  its  transactions  might  well  be  recorded  in  the 
volume  of  the  book  and  engraven  on  the  monumental 
stone.  All  the  favours  which  God  had  promised  to  their 
fathers  while  yet  in  Egyptian  bondage  had  now  been  ful- 
filled, and  the  promised  land  was  theirs.  In  the  meantime 
their  captain,  Joshua,  waxed  helpless  and  old  !  he  felt  that 
there  gathered  around  him  the  mists  and  shadows  of  the 
coming  change.  He  summoned  the  tribes,  therefore,  to 
Shechem,  where  he  gave  them  his  parting  charge.  He 
made  a  covenant  with  them  and  stamped  it  with  a  sacra- 
mental and  with  an  authoritative  value,  and  set  it  up  for 
a  statute  and  for  an  ordinance  in  Shechem. 

We  must  see  in  the  narrative  some  suggestions  of  search- 
ing application  to  ourselves. 

The  nature  of  the  covenant.  The  burden  of  the 
summons  which  Joshua  made  was  that  they  should  serve 
the  Lord.  Joshua  could  not  have  served  the  Lord  if  he 
had  neglected  the  Divinely  appointed  institution  of  sacri- 
fice. Although  the  Mosaic  and  the  Christian  economy 
differ  in  many  things,  they  are  ali-ke  in  this,  that  the  foun- 
dation of  each  of  them  is  a  recognition  of  sin.  They  are 
both  dispensations  for  the  recovery  of  the  tainted,  not  for 
the  preservation  of  the  pure.  They  both  of  them  recog- 
nise an  alienated  treasure,  and  furnish  provision  for  its 
recovery  to  the  Divine  favour. 

Whenever  the  Israelite  was  urged  to  serve  the  Lord,  he 
would  at  once  understand  that,   as  the  earliest  condition 


60  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

of  his  service,  the  daily  offering,  and  all  the  sacrifices  of 
the  day  of  atonement,  must  be  reverently  maintained.  We 
must  recognise  the  atonement  also,  and  rely  upon  it  alone 
as  the  condition  of  service.  God  will  have  no  service  from 
us  which  is  based  on  false  pretences  or  on  fictitious  cha- 
racter. 

Joshua  could  not  have  served  the  Lord,  nor  could  any 
Israelite  in  the  camp,  if  he  had  not  obeyed  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments of  the  law.  This  would  be  admitted  as  an 
indispensable  element  of  Divine  service. 

The  great  principles  of  morality  are  the  same  in  every 
age,  and  these  precepts  of  the  former  time,  with  a  new 
spirit  put  into  them  by  the  exposition  of  Jesus  on  the 
Mount,  are  binding  on  our  conscience  to-day. 

In  entire  union  with  Christ,  power  to  obey  may  be 
obtained.  Let  us  make  a  covenant  with  God.  Come  to 
Christ  and  keep  His  law,  and  you  will  be  fit  for  earth  and 
fit  for  heaven. 

W.  M.  P. 


XXXIII.  The  Benedictions  of  Life.  Ruth  i.  8. 
"  The  Lord  deal  kindly  with  you,  as  ye  have  dealt  with  the 
dead,  and  me." 

We  are  to  consider  Naomi's  sweet  benediction.  The 
Hebrews  were  fond  of  benedictions — "  The  Lord  bless 
thee  and  keep  thee,"  "  The  angel  which  redeemed  me  from 
all  evil,  bless  the  lads."  "  The  Lord  bless  thee  out  of  Zion." 
The  keynote  of  the  text  is  in  that  word  "  kindly."  The 
argument  is  this.  We  can  understand  kindness  in  the 
sphere  of  the  human,  and  rise  from  that  to  a  prayer  for 
the  Divine  kindness. 

I.  The  Lord  knows  best  what  kindness  is.  Has  He 
been  kind  ?  At  times  we  should  have  been  tempted  to 
answer,  No  !  The  vine  is  blighted,  the  fig-tree  withered. 
Kindly  ?  Yes,  we  shall  answer,  one  time,  when  we  stand 
in  our  lot  at  the  end  of  days.  For  kindness  is  not  in- 
dulgence, and  God's  kindness  to  us  may  take  forms  which 
surprise  us.  At  the  heart  of  His  surest  judgments  there 
is  mercy  ;  in  the  bitter  spring,  there  is  healing  water. 

II.  The  Lord  knows  best  what  others  have  been  to  us. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  61 

Naomi  says  with  a  voice  that  trembles  with  remembrances 
of  the  old  days,  "As  you  have  dealt  kindly  with  the  dead 
and  me."  What  a  blessing  so  to  live,  so  to  fill  our  places 
as  sons  and  daughters,  so  to  sanctify  life,  that  others  may 
make  our  conduct  a  plea,  and  say,  "  The  Lord  deal  kindly 
with  you,  as  ye  have  dealt  with  the  dead  and  me." 

III.  The  Lord  alone  will  be  with  us  all  through  our 
future  pilgrimage. 

IV.  The  Lord  looks  for  our  love  to  Him  in  our  love 
to  each  other.  If  we  love  Him  we  shall  feed  His  lambs, 
forgive  our  enemies,  and  fulfil  the  whole  law  of  love. 

W.  M.  S. 


XXXIV.     God's  still  Voices.      i  Sam.  iii.  10.     "  Then 
Samuel  answered,  Speak,  for  Thy  servant  heareth." 

The  subject  is  God's  voices  ;  how  they  may  be  heard,  and 
when  expected. 

The  world  is  full  of  God's  voices,  but  they  are  not  heard, 
or  rather,  God  is  always  waiting  to  speak,  but  His  voice  is 
kept  back,  and  there  is  no  utterance  because  men's  minds 
are  not  in  the  posture  really  to  listen.  God  will  not  speak 
to  minds  that  are  not  set  to  the  note  to  which  His  voice  is 
pitched. 

Four  times  the  Lord  called  Samuel  before  He  spoke  to 
Him.  He  waited  till  there  was  that  frame  of  mind  which 
the  text  conveys  :  "  Speak,  for  Thy  servant  heareth."  Little 
Samuel  had  been  working  all  day  for  God.  When  lying 
down  for  rest,  God  gave  him  a  wonderful  communion  with 
Himself.  When  we  are  very  quiet,  after  we  have  been  very 
busy  for  God,  is  the  occasion  above  all  others  for  God's 
still  voices. 

What  is  that  state  of  mind  which  is  a  pre-requisite  for 
being  individually  spoken  to  by  God  ? 

I.  A  mind  disengaged.  The  door  is  open,  the  conscience 
is  free,  and  the  heart  bids  welcome. 

II.  Another  necessary  feature  is  a  mind  unbiassed. 
There  was  a  simple  desire  to  hear  only  the  truth.  Let 
God  speak  what  He  will. 

III.  Evident  expectation.  God  has  something  definite 
to  say,  and  the  heart  longed  to  hear  it.  The  ear  was  bent 
to    listen.     The  message   from   God   was  an   advent,  and 


62  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

there  was  a  "  now"  in  it — an  importunity  of  strong,  earnest 
desire. 

IV.  There  must  be  a  sense  of  personality.  Observe : 
"  Speak,  Lord,  for  Thy  servant  heareth."  How  close  the 
speaker  and  the  hearer  come  together!  The  heart  is  a 
little  sanctuary  for  God,  and  a  whisper  comes  into  the  ear, 
and  it  is  assuring  and  endearing.  If  you  do  not  expect  it 
personally,  it  will  be  no  voice  at  all. 

V.  There  is  humility.  "  Thy  servant."  And  when  the 
servant  hears  he  hears  to  serve.  With  such  a  state  of  heart 
God's  voices  will  come  soon,  they  will  come  satisfyingly, 
and  you  will  walk  about  hearing  voices. 

J.V. 

XXXV.  Playing  the  Man.  2  Sam.  x.  12.  "  Be  of  good 
courage,  and  let  us  play  the  men  for  our  people  and  for  the 
cities  of  our  God:  and  the  Lord  do  that  which  seemeth  Him 
good." 

THESE  grand  words  are,  even  more  remarkable  if  we 
take  notice  of  the  lips  from  which  they  came.  The 
speaker  is  one  of  the  least  attractive  and  least  devout  of 
all  the  Old  Testament  characters.  That  fearless,  domi- 
neering, rough  soldier,  Joab,  who  all  his  life  long  was  a 
thorn  in  David's  side,  and  whose  death  appeared  to  the 
dying  king  the  means  which  afforded  even  a  chance  of 
peace  for  his  successor.  And  yet  this  man,  rough,  harsh, 
with  not  a  touch  of  religion  in  him,  so  far  as  we  see  in  all 
the  story  of  his  life  hitherto,  when  he  is  brought  into  a 
great  peril  is  stirred  into  an  utterance  which  discloses  the 
grandest  courage  and  the  profoundest  sense  of  godly 
philosophy.  And  as  he  looks  at  the  handful  of  men  by  his 
side  arrayed  against  the  greater  number  of  men  opposed 
to  him  over  there,  he  says,  "  Be  of  good  courage  :  let  us 
play  the  men."  He  then  falls  back  upon  that  which  is  the 
only  strength  of  man,  "  The  Lord  do  that  which  seemeth 
Him  good,"  but  at  the  same  time  no  mere  fatalism,  no 
Mahommedan  resignation,  "  but  be  of  good  courage,  and 
let  us  play  the  men,"  etc  ;  and  then,  when  we  have  done 
that,  "  the  Lord  do  that  which  seemeth  Him  good."  That 
is  all  the  more  striking  and  beautiful  from  the  lips  out  of 
which  it  comes,  the  fountain  playing  sweet  waters  and  bitter. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  63 

I.  The  first  point  I  mention  in  connection  with  these  words 
is  that  we  may  take  them  as  the  religion  of  an  irreligious 
man  in  times  of  danger,  when  the  pain  and  the  stress  come. 
There  are  so  many  of  us  who — some  of  us  for  mere  mo- 
mentary emotion,  some  of  us  as  a  mere  piece  of  hypocrisy, 
and  some  of  us,  too,  I  do  belieye,  because  the  pain  and  the 
stress  get  down  to  the  true  man — are  in  the  habit  of  start- 
ing up  into  something  greater  and  nobler  and  devouter 
than  in  the  ordinary  character  of  our  lives.  I  do  not  say 
that  is  good — it  is  bad  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  some  man 
who  has  all  his  life  forgotten  God,  when  his  favourite  child 
has  been  smitten  down,  when  his  world  of  business  comes 
crashing  about  his  ears,  he  then  falls  back  upon  the  truths 
which  in  bright  and  prosperous  times  he  held  very  lightly. 
Don't  let  us  say  that  is  all  bad.  God  sometimes  thrusts 
His  sharp  spear  through  the  skin  of  sensuality  and  selfish- 
ness into  the  quick  of  the  man.  Then  comes  to  life  what 
has  been  lying  more  than  half  dead  within  him,  and  Joab 
is  found,  when  the  enemy  is  yonder,  when  there  seems  to 
be  no  help  in  the  world  else,  he  too  is  found  facing  God. 

I  don't  say  that  that  is  desirable  ;  but  there  are  such 
instances,  and  let  us  be  thankful  if  even  in  such  equivocal 
way  a  soul  finds  its  true  peace,  and  a  life's  energy  is  dedi- 
cated to  its  Saviour. 

Suppose  in  all  these  people  round  about  him,  David  had 
been  asked  :  "  Do  you  think  there  is  any  religion  in  Joab  ?" 
and  the  answer  should  have  been,  "  Certainly  not,"  and  yet 
here  is  a  bit  of  language  rooted  from  the  heart.  Let  us 
leave  that  ticklish  question  of  determining  what  lies  below 
the  surface  of  other  people  ;  let  us  lay  it  to  ourselves,  that 
our  religion  be  not  a  cloak  we  put  on,  an  umbrella  that  we 
lift  as  long  as  it  is  raining,  and  put  down  when  the  sun 
shineth, — a  companion  for  the  night  and  not  for  the  day. 
Let  us  see  to  it  that  our  religion  runs  through  all  the 
circumstances  of  our  lives,  and  influences  and  colours  and 
gilds  everything  that  we  do  ;  and  then  when  the  strain 
and  the  stress  comes,  it  will  be  all  the  more  likely  to  be  an 
all-sufficient  strength  for  us  if  we  have  been  accustomed 
to  deal  with  it  and  to  handle  it  in  the  quiet  of  other  times. 
I  am  afraid  that  it  is  not  only  people  whom  we  call 
"  the  world  "  that  are  apt  to  fall  back  upon  religion  as  a 
thing  for  stormy  times,  but  it  is  deep  within  us  all.     And 


64  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

you  professing  Christians  and  Church  members  have  the 
same  dangers  to  guard  against.  Let  us  take  the  lesson. 
Don't  let  us  treat  Jesus  Christ  as  men  do  the  doctor,  who, 
when  they  are  ill,  would  do  anything  to  see  him  crossing 
the  threshold,  and  when  the  bill  comes  in  grumble  and  call 
it  a  high  and  unreasonable  one  ;  and  don't  let  us  be  put  in 
a  tight  place  before  we  learn  to  say,  "  The  Lord  do  that 
which  seemeth  Him  good."  Then  there  is  this  reason  why 
one  would  thankfully  admit  that  here  we  get  an  illustration 
of  the  way  in  which  sometimes  unexpected  devoutness 
bubbles  up  in  unanticipated  places.  Don't  let  us  forget 
that  l\ere  is  an  illustration  of  how  little  worth,  after  all,  a 
religion  of  that  sort  is.  This  man,  however  earnest,  sin- 
cere, in  his  falling  back  upon  the  soldier's  faith  that  God 
would  help  them  that  struck  with  their  own  strong  arms, 
his  religion  did  very  little  for  him  the  rest  of  his  life.  It 
did  not  refine  him  ;  it  did  not  make  him  patient,  gentle, 
merciful,  or  anything  which  it  should  have  made  him. 
This  is  the  sole  instance ;  and,  depend  upon  it,  unless  our 
religion  is  the  underlying  power  that  moulds  our  whole 
character,  it  will  never  cover  our  heads  in  the  day  of  battle. 

II.  Well,  then,  turning  away  altogether  from  such  a  way 
of  looking  at  the  lips  that  spake  these  words,  let  us  get  a 
lesson  out  of  the  words  themselves.  They  illustrate  for  us 
also  what  I  may  call  the  plain  practical  common  sense 
which  cuts  all  the  difficult  things  about  man's  part  and 
God's. 

Joab  had  no  doubt  whatever  that  his  first  business  was  to 
dispose  of  his  troops  wisely  in  front  there, — that  the  next 
business  was  that  they  should,  with  all  the  pith  in  their 
right  arms,  and  with  bold  hearts,  strike  ;  and  just  as  little 
doubt,  when  all  that  was  done,  "  the  Lord  would  do  that 
which  seemeth  Him  good."  And  one  set  of  men  would 
have  said  :  "  Ah  !  Providence  is  always  on  the  side  of  the 
strongest  battalions  ;  the  strongest  arms  and  the  sharpest 
swords  will  win  the  battle  anyhow."  Others  would  have 
said  :  "  Ah  !  if  you  believe  in  this  Divine  protection,  and 
that  sort  of  thing,  what  is  the  use  of  throwing  the  dice  at 
all  ?  They  are  cogged.  The  one  thing  will  be  done  just 
the  same." 

Joab — who  had  not  learned  much  philosophy  in  David's 
camp — just  by  dint  of  plain,  practical  common  sense — there 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  65 


was  no  time  to  talk  about  casuistry, — hit  the  right  nail  on 
the  head.  He  knew  the  two  things,  and  we  know  no  more  ; 
and  all  the  cobwebs  of  the  schools  have  not  got  a  bit  fur- 
ther, and  they  never  will  get  further  ;  and  so  the  two  great 
telling  facts  stand — "  Let  us  play  the  men,"  and  "  the  Lord 
do  that  which  seemeth  Him  good."  If  you  want  it  in  a 
more  evangelical  form  :  "  Work  out  your  own  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you 
to  will  and  to  do  His  good  pleasure." 

I  have  no  time  to  spend  in  analysing  this  kind  of 
things,  as  they  are  cobwebby  after  all.  Let  us  be  quite 
sure  of  this,  that  the  one  thing  that  we  need  to  know  is  — 
do  thy  part ;  and  the  one  thing  to  trust  is — God  doeth  all. 
There  is  the  plain  common  sense  of  the  whole  thing,  and 
sufficient  quite  for  all  the  daily  life,  wrapped  up  in  these 
rough  words. 

III.  And  so  the  last  thing  about  this  utterance  is, 
that  we  may  take  it  as  illustrating  for  us  also  the  noble 
courage  that  comes  out  of  absolute  resignation.  Some 
men  need  to  have  the  hope  of  success  before  them  before 
they  can  fight  for  their  own  or  for  a  public  cause  with 
anything  like  earnestness  and  vigour.  And  so  there  is 
the  courage  that  is  born  of  the  assurance  of  victory. 
When  William  Carey  launched  the  missionary  enter- 
prise in  which  the  two  notes  were — "Expect  great  things 
from  God,"  and  "  do  great  things  for  God  ; "  these  were 
excellent.  But  don't  you  think  it  would  have  been 
grander — "  Let  us  play  the  men  for  the  good  cities  of  our 
God,"  and  let  consequences  alone  ?  You  cannot  see  into 
that  cloud  and  mist ;  and  if  we  could,  there  is  no  ray  of 
duty  to  be  got  out  of  that.  The  only  thing  we  have  got 
to  see  is,  that  it  is  for  the  cities  of  our  God  that  we  are 
fighting  ;  and  then,  come  weal,  come  woe,  success  or  failure, 
leave  it  alone,  and  say,  "  the  Lord  do  that  which  seemeth 


Him  good. 

Ah  !  dear  brethren,  when  we  have  thus  brought  these 
rebellious  wills  of  ours  into  harmony  with  His  will,  then 
we  have  touched  the  centre,  and  have  got  the  seed-root  of 
success,  and  of  something  better  than  success — of  peace 
in  our  hearts,  of  resignation — by  which  I  mean  the  active 
harmony  of  my  will  with  God's  will.  That  is  the  secret 
of  all  courage  ;  that  is  the  secret  of  all   peace.     Why,  if 

F 


66  OUTLINES   ON  THE 


you  have  been  reading  about  these  Afghan  wars  lately, 
you  know  that  every  now  and  then  there  starts  out  from 
the  other  side  there  some  man  who  is  designated  by  some 
term  which  expresses  that  he  is  resolved  to  fling  his  life 
away  in — as  he  thinks — the  service  of  the  prophet  and 
of  God.  And  these  men,  just  because  their  whole  nature 
has  been  absorbed  into  the  one  thought  of  submission  of 
will  to  Allah  and  Allah's  prophet,  these  men  come  storm- 
ing through  all  difficulties,  lives  in  their  hands  ;  they  do 
not  care  whether  they  live  or  die,  and  so  nothing  can 
stop  them  from  doing  what  they  want  to  do.  And  you 
and  I  may  come  to  the  very  same  elevation  and  grand 
independence  of  consequences  in  our  hearts  and  lives  if 
we  only  will  take  it  on  the  lines  which  this  text  touches  : 
"  The  Lord  do  that  which  seemeth  Him  good."  Ah !  the 
highest  example  of  courage  and  of  playing  the  men  for  the 
city  of  God  is  in  Him  that  prepared  Himself  for  His  con- 
flict by  this — "  Father,  not  My  will,  but  Thine  be  done." 
And  if  we  have  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ,  we  too  shall 
be  brave  with  more  than  human  courage, — be  submissive 
with  childlike  obedience.  "  The  Lord  do  that  which  seem- 
eth Him  good  "  is  the  key  to  all  peace,  to  all  courage,  and 
to  all  happiness. 

A.  M. 


XXXVI.     Our  Weakness    our  Strength,      i   Kings 

iii.  7.     "/  am  but  a  little  child:  I  know  not  how  to  go  out 
or  come  in." 

These  were  the  words  of  a  very  wise  and  great  man,  when 
he  was  just  succeeding  to  his  high  dignities  and  was  on 
the  eve  of  one  of  the  greatest  works  which  was  ever  given 
to  a  man  to  do.  It  is  the  Moseses,  the  Solomons,  the 
Jeremiahs,  who  always  feel  their  nothingness.  The  higher 
you  ascend  in  the  true  scale  of  manhood,  the  more  un- 
affected and  entire  is  the  acknowledgment  "  I  am  but  a 
little  child."  One  only  who  ever  lived  and  achieved  the 
greatnesses  of  life  never  used  those  words,  but  even  He 
went  as  near  to  it  as  the  omnipotence  of  the  immeasurable 
Spirit  which  dwelt  in  Him  would  allow,  when  He  said,  4<  I 
can  of  mine  own  se]f  do   nothing."     The  way  to   "go  out" 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  67 

and  to  "  come  in  "  well,  is  to  have  always  in  the  mind  the 
sense  of  utter  incompetence. 

What  is  it  to  be  "  a  little  child  "  ? 

I.  You  must  every  day  be  born  again,  that  so  you  may 
have  the  freshness  of  a  constant  regeneration. 

II.  Simplicity  is  closely  connected  with  the  freshness. 
The  child  is  ruled  by  his  heart.  He  loves  more  than 
he  knows.  Take  simple  thoughts  of  everything.  What 
is  beyond  you,  leave  it.  A  mystery  is  the  simplest  of  all 
simple  things  so  long  as  you  are  content  to  leave  it  a 
mystery.     This  is  what  the  child  does. 

III.  A  third  characteristic  of  childhood  is  purity.  It  is  a 
beatitude  upon  childhood  :  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart 
for  they  shall  see  God."  And  therefore  a  little  child  sees 
more  of  God  than  a  man  does,  because  of  this  purity  of 
heart. 

IV.  Consent  in  all  things  to  be  undertaken  for,  as  the 
little  child  does.  Go  leaningly,  trustingly  and  lovingly. 
"  Go  in  this  thy  might,"  your  weakness  your  strength.  The 
ivy  that  twines  round  the  rock  is  surer  than  the  cedar 
which  stands  alone  upon  the  mountain.  At  every  door, 
confess  to  helplessness  and  through  many  doors  you  will 
go  in  and  out  quite  safely. 

J.  V. 

XXXVII.  True  Aims  and  False  Aims.  1  Kings 
iii.  9.  "Give  therefore  Thy  servant  an  wider  standing  heart 
to  judge  Thy  people,  that  I  may  discern  between  good  and  bad : 
for  who  is  able  to  judge  this  Thy  so  great  a  people" 

The  men  whose  names  the  world  will  not  willingly  let  die 
are  those  who  find  in  other's  good  their  chiefest,  greatest 
joy.  The  names  of  self-gratifiers,  self-seekers '  die  out. 
Selfishness  never  has  imbibed  life  from  the  principle  of 
immortality.  The  men  who  come  up  to  the  height  of  a 
great  choice,  "  Give  me  these  that  I  may  judge  Thy  people, 
that  I  may  civilise  and  educate  and  evangelise,  that  I  may 
bless  my  generation,"  their  names  become  the  echo,  ever 
sounding  throughout  the  ages,  of  the  sacrifice  they  once 
chose  to  make  for  others. 

The  two  great  teachers  from  amongst  the  kings  of  Israel 
learned  in  suffering  what  they  taught  in  song,  proverb  and 


63  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

parable.  The  text  gives  you  young  Solomon  ascending  to 
Gibeon  and  sacrificing  at  once  a  thousand  burnt  offerings. 
Solomon  found  out  that  very  night  that  these  offerings 
were  not  wasted.  God  appeared  to  him  and  asked  him, 
What  shall  I  give  thee  ?  Solomon  came  up  to  the  height 
of  a  great  choice,  and  the  choice  pleased  the  Lord. 

I.  God  comes  to  every  one  of  us,  saying,  "  Choose  what 
I  shall  give  thee  "  !  We  must  choose  ;  refusal  to  choose  is 
itself  a  choice,  and  it  is  this  liberty  to  choose  one's  aim  in 
life  and  one's  destiny  at  last  that  makes  life  so  serious. 
We  must  choose  between  religion  and  irreligion  ;  one  of 
them  must  be  right,  and  if  we  choose  aright  it  is  well  for 
us. 

"  Give  me  therefore  an  understanding  heart."  It  must 
begin  with  the  heart.  "  The  pure  in  heart  alone  can  see 
God,"  and  if  a  man  cannot  see  God  in  the  world,  he  cannot 
see  anything  else  in  its  true  proportions.  God  wishes  to 
have  the  heart  to  whisper  to  and  to  guide.  Choose 
between  good  and  bad  in  your  companions,  your  books, 
your  pleasure  and  habits.  You  are  in  a  world  of  tempta- 
tion, and  the  great  thing  is  not  to  play  a  retreat. 

II.  The  right  aim  in  life  chosen.  It  pleased  the  Lord 
that  Solomon  had  asked  wisdom  and  rejected  the  false. 
It  pleased  God  that  he  did  not  ask  for  long  life.  Then  is 
that  a  wrong  desire  ?  Well,  it  is  a  nobler  thing  to  act  well 
your  part  than  to  be  constantly  wishing  for  long  life.  Life 
is  not  measured  by  length  of  days.  "  We  live  in  acts  not 
years."  Methuselah  lived  for  900  years  and  never  said  a 
word  worth  putting  down  in  the  Bible.  Jesus  Christ  was 
only  here  for  three  years  of  public  life,  and  His  name  has 
gone  through  the  earth,  filled  heaven  with  its  praise,  and 
His  deeds  shall  be  spoken  of  throughout  the  eternal  ages. 
Life  is  yours  to  fill  it  as  Christ  filled  it  with  noble  deeds  of 
help  to  others. 

It  pleased  the  Lord  that  he  did  not  ask  for  riches. 
Then  is  it  not  wrong  for  us  to  desire  riches  ?  As  the  great 
absorbing  passion  in  life  it  is  wrong.  Jesus  did  not  teach 
that  riches  was  the  root  of  all  evils,  but  "  the  love  of  riches" 
was.  The  evil  was  here  before  the  riches.  There  was  not 
a  penny  in  the  world  when  the  first  sin  was  committed. 
But  if  Mammon  be  your  great  aim  in  life  you  will  be  the 
worse  for  every  coin  you  gather. 


OLD    TESTAMENT,  69 


It  pleased  the  Lord  that  he  did  not  ask  the  life  of 
his  enemies.  They  say  that  it  is  .the  sweetest  thing  in 
life  to  have  revenge  upon  an  enemy.  Another  has  said, 
"  Revenge  is  mine  saith  the  Lord."  Christianity  is  the 
only  religion  that  teaches  all  men  to  give  over  their 
vengeance  to  the  Lord. 

III.  The  reason  why  it  pleased  the  Lord.  That  Solomon 
rejected  the  false  and  chose  the  true  aim  in  life. 

(1)  Because  he  chose  what  enabled  him  to  be  serviceable 
to  others.     "  That  I  may  judge  the  people." 

(2)  Because  he  chose  to  walk  in  the  statutes  of  a  good 
father.  It  is  the  greatest  joy  of  a  good  father  to  have  a 
good  son. 

(3)  Because  he  chose  God  Himself  as  his  portion  rather 
than  all  His  gifts.  "And  Solomon  loved  the  Lord."  But 
God  gives  more  than  you  ask,  abundantly  more,  His 
gifts  never  bring  leanness  to  the  soul  ;  but  they  bring  a  feast 
of  joy,  until  the  Christian  is  ready  to  cry  "  All  these  and 
Christ  too!" 

H.  E. 

XXXVIII.     The  Glory  of  the  Lord.     1  Ktngs  viii.  n. 
"  For  the  glory  of  the  Lord  had  filled  the  house  of  the  Lord." 

The  "  house  "  of  the  text  is  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  just 
completed,  and  at  this  point  being  dedicated  with  prayer 
and  praise  to  the  God  of  Israel.  The  "  glory  "  that  filled 
it  was  apparent  to  the  eye  in  the  appearance  of  smoke. 

I.  The  glory  of  the  Lord.  What  is  it  ?  The  cloud  was 
not  God,  but  the  sign  and  evidence  that  He  was  there.  It 
showed  that  God  was  present  for  a  purpose,  for  good  and 
merciful  ends  which  the  word  accompanying  the  revelation 
disclosed.  The  miracle  vouched  for  the  word,  and  identified 
the  speaker.  It  is  not  so  now.  It  is  not  needed  now 
that  Christ  has  been  here,  filling  the  world  with  evidences 
of  His  presence  and  power  in  a  Christian  Sabbath,  Church, 
and  civilization.  Jesus  has  ascended.  The  fire  comes  down  ; 
fire  and  no  cloud,  light  and  "  no  darkness  at  all."  But 
it  is  "  tongue  of  fire."  Henceforth  faith  is  to  come  em- 
phatically by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God. 

II.  How  can  a  house  be  filled  with  God's  glory?  We 
assume   the  Christian  temple  to  be  occupied   by    human 


70  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

beings  sufficiently  intelligent  regarding  the  Lord  to  desire 
instruction  and  the  knowledge  of  Him.  In  the  measure 
in  which  the  worshippers  acquire  and  grow  in  that 
knowledge,  in  that  degree  will  the  house  be  filled  with 
His  glory.  Not  in  its  walls,  however  majestic  ;  nor  its 
adornments,  however  costly  ;  nor  in  its  tempests  of  sweet 
sounds,  is  the  temple  filled  with  glory  ;  but  when  the 
knowledge  of  God  in  Christ  is  being  given  out  and  received, 
then  the  house  is  filled  with  His  glory. 

III.  What  is  the  advantage  of  beholding  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  ?  "  We  all  with  open  face  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the 
glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same  image  from 
glory  to  glory."  We  unfold  the  glory  of  the  Lord  that 
men  may  see  it,  and  come  to  Him  and  live.  This  educates 
the  heart  and  shapes  the  life.  This  joins  the  life  that  now 
is  and  that  which  is  to  come. 

J.  H. 


XXXIX.  The  Fall  of  Solomon,  i  Kings  xi.  n. 
"  Wherefore  the  Loi'd  said  unto  Solomon,  Forasmuch  as  this 
is  done  of  thee,  and  thou  hast  not  kept  My  covenant  and  My 
statutes  which  I  have  commanded  thee,  I  will  surely  rend  the 
kingdom  from  thee  and  will  give  it  to  thy  servant." 

SOLOMON'S  great  sin  was  the  encouragement  and  the 
establishment  of  idolatry  in  and  about  Jerusalem.  The 
great  providential  purpose  of  Israel  was  the  maintenance 
of  faith  in,  and  worship  of,  one  true  God.  It  was  to  this 
inheritance  of  faith  and  duty,  consecrated  by  the  struggles 
of  so  many  generations,  that  Solomon  had  succeeded. 
The  building  of  the  temple  was  the  great  work  of  his  life, 
and  it  is  this  fall  which  throws  his  latter  apostasy  into 
such  painful  relief.  What  was  it  that  could  have  tempted 
Solomon  to  practise  and  support  idolatry  ? 

I.  The  temptation  came  to  him  chiefly  through  his 
affections.  Solomon's  wives  could  do  what  probably  no 
one  man  in  his  empire  could  possibly  have  done  :  they 
perverted  the  heart  of  the  wisest  of  men. 

II.  Solomon  was  the  victim  of  a  sort  of  false  cosmo- 
politanism. His  wide  range  of  interests,  his  immense 
wealth,  his  contact  with  men  of  all  creeds  and  no  creeds, 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  yi 

brought  to  him  a  temptation  which  often  comes  to  those 
who,  from  the  nature  of  their  duties,  see  many  sides  of 
human  life.  In  such  cases  the  difficulty  is  to  be  fair, 
just,  generous  to  the  convictions  of  others,  without  com- 
promising what  we  ourselves  know  to  be  true.  Solomon, 
within  the  walls  of  his  palace,  breathed  at  last  a  purely 
heathen  atmosphere,  and  it  did  its  work  upon  him.  Care- 
lessness became  indifference,  indifference  under  pressure 
soon  became  apostasy. 

III.  There  was  some  subtle,  unconquered  evil  in 
Solomon's  nature  which  led  him  to  sympathize  with  the 
wrong  thus  recommended  to  him  from  without.  No  out- 
ward influence  can  really  overmaster  the  rectitude  of  a 
regenerate  will.  If  outward  terrors  or  attractions  prevail, 
it  is  because  of  some  rottenness  within.  Solomon's  fall  was 
not  prevented  by  his  old  age,  nor  by  his  knowledge,  nor  by 
previous  sincerity.  We  have  no  means  of  solving  the  ques- 
tion of  Solomon's  final  salvation  ;  but  this  is  certain,  that 
his  sin  brought  its  penalty  in  this  world  :  "  I  will  surely 
rend  the  kingdom  from  him." 

IV.  The  practical  lesson  of  such  a  fall  as  Solomon's  is, 
that  perseverance  in  God's  service  is  not  a  matter  of  course 
with  any  one  of  us,  but  that  it  is  a  distinct  gift  or  grace  of 
God,  to  be  secured  by  watchfulness  and  prayer.  We  who 
are  neither  kings  nor  sages,  may  well  take  warning  by  this 
history  of  the  wisest  of  kings.  Let  us  watch  the  issues, 
we  can  never  fully  explore  the  depths,  of  these  hearts  of 
ours.  Let  us  grasp  the  hands  that  were  pierced  in  mercy 
for  us  on  the  cross.  Let  us  look  constantly,  humbly,  to 
God,  as  the  source  of  our  strength. 

H.  P.  L. 


XL.     The   Call    of   Elisha.     i   Kings  xix.  19.     "So  he 

departed  thence  and  found  Elisha,  the  son  of  Shaphat,  who  was 
plowing  with  twelve  yoke  of  oxen  before  him,  and  he  with  the 
twelfth  :  and  Elijah  passed  by  him,  and  cast  his  mantle  upon 
him." 

THE  prophetical  ministry  was  not  a  matter  of  hereditary 
descent  like  the  Jewish  priesthood.  Each  prophet  was 
the  subject  of  a   special   predestination   to   his  work,  and 


72  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

each  was  called  to  his  work   by  some  especial  token   or 
influence. 

Elijah  does  not  seem  to  have  spoken  to  Elisha  ;  but  to 
cast  the  mantle  on  another,  was  to  call  him  to  share  the 
labour,  the  glory,  the  responsibility,  the  dangers  of  the 
prophetic  office.  Elisha  perfectly  understood  the  symbol- 
ical action  and  obeyed  its  purpose.  The  call  of  Elisha 
has  its  place  not  merely  in  the  history  of  his  order  or  of 
his  country,  but  in  the  history  of  humanity,  and  as  such  it 
is  an  instance  of  the  power  of  religious  influence.  The 
silent  prophet  passes,  he  drops  his  mantle,  and  the  life  of 
another  man  is  agitated  to  its  centre.  What  must  have 
been  some  of  the  motives  which  led  Elisha  to  obey  ? 

I.  Elijah  would  have  represented  a  great  cause  and  a 
great  truth.  Truths  are  sometimes  impersonated  in  single 
men.  Elisha  bent  before  the  truth  of  which  his  master 
was  himself  the  servant.  The  first  condition  of  a  deep 
religious  influence  is  a  clear,  positive  creed.  Elijah  was 
powerful  because  men  knew  that  he  had  no  doubt  about 
his  creed. 

II  Elijah  had  personal  qualities  in  harmony  with  the 
requirements  of  the  cause  he  represented,  and  Elisha  would 
feel  attracted  by  these  qualities. 

III.  Elijah  had  the  influence  which  belongs  to  a  soul 
often  in  communion  with  God.  This  is  an  atmosphere 
which  hovers  around  the  life  which  we  are  conscious  of 
breathing  when  we  approach  it.  It  is  something  beyond 
character — it  is  tone.  It  is  beyond  goodness — it  is  holi- 
ness. Elisha  may  well  have  felt  this  attraction.  This 
history  has  two  lessons  ;  one  for  those  who  exert  religious 
influence,  the  other  for  those  who  yield  to  it. 

Every  man  is  assuredly  the  apostle  of  something — of 
evil  if  not  of  good.  This  responsibility  cannot  be  avoided. 
Let  our  lives  be  decided,  consistent,  unworldly,  as  was 
Elijah's,  then  our  influence  will  be  as  sure  as  his.  To  listen 
for  the  footsteps  of  the  Divine  Redeemer,  passing  by  us  in 
the  ordinary  providences  of  life,  is  a  most  important  part 
of  the  probation  of  every  man.     Let  us  follow  Him. 

H.  P.  L. 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  73 

XLI.  Elijah's  Farewell  to  Elisha.  2  Kings  ii.  9. 
"And  Elijah  said  unto  Elisha,  Ask  what  I  shall  do  for  thee, 
before  I  be  taken  away  from  thee" 

THE  assumption  of  Elijah  the  prophet  into  heaven  is  one 
of  those  incidents  in  the  Bible  history  which  takes  possession 
of  the  imagination  in  the  earliest  years  of  childhood,  while 
it  also  suggests  problems  of  the  highest  interest  as  long  as 
we  can  read  our  Bibles.  This  event  brings  before  us  the 
departure  of  a  great  servant  of  God  from  the  world  of 
sense.  Let  us  try  to  understand  the  solemnity  which  is 
inseparable  from  such  an  event. 

I.  We  see  the  parting  of  friends.  The  last  command  of 
the  prophet,  addressed  to  his  follower,  was  the  language 
of  tender  and  devoted  friendship.  "Ask  what  I  shall  do 
for  thee,  before  I  be  taken  away  from  thee."  To  stand 
by  the  death-bed  of  a  friend  is  one  of  the  most  solemn 
experiences  of  the  human  soul  on  earth.  If,  before  he  is 
taken  from  us,  a  dying  friend  can  teach  us  the  responsi- 
bilities as  well  as  the  privileges  of  friendship,  he  will  have 
done  us  a  service  of  the  very  highest  kind. 

II.  We  see  the  last  act  of  a  great  life.  We  might  have 
expected  from  Elijah  a  last  denunciation  of  the  house  of 
Ahab,  or  a  word  of  warning  to  rouse  Israel  ;  but  no,  he  is 
thinking,  just  like  any  humble  peasant,  of  what  he  can 
best  do  for  his  undistinguished  follower.  It  was  an  act  of 
pure  unselfishness,  of  simple  thought  for  the  needs  of  an- 
other. A  death-bed  does  two  things.  It  puts  the  finishing 
stroke  on  life,  and  it  yields  a  revelation  of  character.  As 
a  rule,  dying  men  act  and  speak  in  accordance  with  the 
strongest  and  deepest  motives  that  have  governed  them 
through  life,  or  that  govern  them  at  the  moment. 

III.  The  solemnity  of  the  scene  consists  in  this,  that 
Elijah  is  visibly  about  to  take  his  departure  for  another 
world.  "  Before  I  be  taken  away  from  thee."  Elijah  was, 
indeed,  taken  in  body  as  well  as  in  spirit.  His  translation 
reminds  us  that  death  is  not  only  the  conclusion  of  one 
stage  of  being,  it  is  the  door  through  which  we  enter  upon 
another  ;  and  the  light  which  already  streams  through  the 
openings,  illumines  the  present  scene  with  a  strange  interest 
and  awe.  Christianity  has  greatly  enhanced  the  signifi- 
cance of  death.     Elisha,  devoted   as  he   already  was,  was 


74  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

another  man  after  witnessing  the  translation  of  Elijah. 
And  there  are  scenes  in  every  life  which  ought  to  send  us 
back  to  work  and  to  duty  with  a  deeper  sense  of  the  mean- 
ing and  responsibilities  of  life  and  of  the  world  which  is 
to  come. 

H.  P.  L. 

XLII.  Naaman.  2  Kings  v.  i.  "Now  Naaman,  captain 
of  the  host  of  the  king  of  Syria,  was  a  great  man  with  his 
master,  a?id  honourable,  because  by  htm  the  Lord  had  given 
deliverance  unto  Syria :  he  was  also  a  mighty  man  in  valour ; 
but  he  was  a  leper" 

THROUGHOUT  the  Scriptures  leprosy  is  treated  as  a  parallel 
of  sin.  The  stroke,  as  men  so  naturally  called  it,  did  for 
the  body  precisely  what  sin  does  for  the  indwelling  spirit : 
lurking  secretly  in  the  system  till  its  hold  was  well  estab- 
lished ;  breaking  out  in  spots  that  met  and  spread  till  the 
whole  body  became  hideous  and  the  man  became  such  an 
object  that  the  meanest  slave  in  Syria  would  not  change 
places  with  him  ;  eating  like  a  cancer  into  the  flesh,  pur- 
suing its  pitiless  course  until  the  limbs  rotted  and  fell  away 
and  the  body  became  as  a  living  corpse  ;  a  disease  so  foul 
and  so  subtle  that  medical  science  for  many  centuries, 
without  thinking  of  healing,  did  not  attempt  to  relieve  its 
pain.  Leprosy  presented  to  the  eye  a  ghastly  picture  in 
the  body  of  the  havoc  sin  works  upon  the  soul.  There  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  leprosy  is  contagious.  Naaman, 
for  example,  could  scarcely  have  held  his  position  as  a 
personal  attendant  to  the  king,  and  have  been  in  constant 
intercourse  with  persons  whose  lives  were  held  as  the  most 
precious  in  the  kingdom,  if  it  were  not  well  known  that  there 
was  no  risk  of  contagion  in  his  leprosy.  Hence  the  regu- 
lations of  Moses  with  regard  to  the  treatment  of  leprosy 
may  be  regarded  as  having  a  religious  rather  than  a  sanitary 
purpose  ;  intended  to  emphasize  the  fact  of  leprosy  being 
a  picture  of  sin.  Conversely  ;  it  is  the  healing  of  leprosy 
as  a  parallel  to  the  healing  of  sin.  Every  cure  of  leprosy 
is,  in  the  Scriptures,  attributed  to  the  direct  interposition  of 
God,  just  as  the  mercy  of  Heaven  is  acknowledged  in  heal- 
ing the  sinner.  This  brings  us  to  our  treatment  of  the  text. 
That  which  we  note  in  Heaven's  mercy  to  Naaman  is  quite 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  75 


consistent  with  the  treatment  of  sinners  like  ourselves. 
Now,  look  in  this  sorrow  of  Naaman  how  the'  mercy  of 
Heaven  humbles  the  pride  of  man,  ignores  the  prejudices 
of  man,  and  declines  the  co-operation  of  man. 

I.  How  the  mercy  of  Heaven  humbles  the  pride  of  man. 
Sitting  in  his  chariot,  which  has  many  a  time  borne  him  to 
fields  of  trial,  accompanied  by  many  servants  in  rich  attire, 
followed  by  horses  and  camels  laden  with  ingots  of  gold, 
talents  of  silver,  and  rich  garments  made  in  the  silk  looms 
of  Damascus,  — as  captain  of  the  host  of  the  king  of  Syria,  a 
great  man  and  honourable,  he  travelled  in  all  the  magnifi- 
cence of  an  Oriental  grandee.  He  was  a  great  man,  but 
he  was  a  leper.  When  he  arrived  at  the  gate  of  Elisha  he 
took  it  for  granted  that  it  would  be  flung  open  and  that 
the  prophet  would  himself  rush  out,  and  fall  on  his  knees 
before  him,  and  pay  his  obeisance,  and  call  upon  God  to 
make  haste  to  heal  so  great  a  man.  But,  on  the  contrary, 
the  door  was  shut,  and  the  house  is  still  as  if  it  were  the 
house  of  the  dead,  till  the  great  man  leaves  his  chariot. 
Never  before  had  he  been  doomed  to  stand  at  the  gate,  and 
this  in  the  presence  of  his  servants.  His  language  is  signi- 
ficant of  his  disgust :  "  Behold,  I  thought  he  will  surely 
come  out  to  me,  and  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  his 
God,  and  strike  his  hand  over  the  place."  Presently  there 
comes  out,  not  the  prophet,  but  a  message.  And  such  a 
message ;  not  giving  him  some  great  and  important  thing 
to  do,  but  such  as  might  have  been  sent  to  any  beggar  in 
the  land — "  Go  and  wash  in  Jordan  seven  times."  If  this 
treatment  of  Naaman  had  arisen  from  a  spirit  of  ecclesias- 
tical arrogance  on  the  part  of  Elisha,  like  that  of  Pope 
Hildebrand,  who  commanded  the  Emperor  of  Germany 
to  stand  barefoot  for  three  days  in  front  of  his  palace  in 
the  January  snow,  we  could  neither  sympathize  with  it  nor 
endeavour  to  extenuate  it.  But  all  that  Elisha  did  was  in 
direct  obedience  to  the  commands  of  Him  who  resisteth 
the  proud  and  giveth  grace  to  the  lowly.  Pride  was  the 
sin  by  which  Paradise  was  lost,  and  the  first  step  towards 
regaining  Paradise  is  the  subjugation  of  pride.  Naaman 
himself  began  by  learning  that  God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons.  The  ministers  of  our  Churches  may  make  dis- 
tinctions between  the  sinner  with  a  ring  on  his  finger  and 
the  sinner  with  rags  on  his  back,  but  it  is  not  so  with  God. 


76  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

Is  the  difference  so  great  between  the  greatest  monarch 
who  rules  on  the  earth  and  his  meanest  subject  that  the 
sun  should  shine  warmer  or  the  wind  blow  softer  for  one 
than  the  other,  and  must  God  stoop  to  note  these  distinc- 
tions and  differences.  A  man  may  be  just  as  vain  of  his 
moral  virtues  as  even  Naaman  of  his  gold,  silver,  and 
raiment,  but  let  any  one  who  imagines  that  God  may  make 
a  difference  between  him  and  the  vilest  reprobate  on  earth 
meditate  on  the  infinite  disparity  which  exists  between  his 
poor,  soiled,  broken  virtues  and  the  infinite  holiness  of  God. 
We  must  come  before  God  stripped  of  all  self-sufficiency 
and  on  a  level  with  the  most  guilty. 

II.  Mark  again  how  the  mercy  of  Heaven  ignores  the 
prejudices  of  man.  It  has  been  remarked,  Naaman's  "  I 
thought"  is  the  germ  of  all  modern  Rationalism.  Men  set 
up  their  thoughts  as  to  the  manner  in  which  Heaven's 
mercy  should  be  dispensed,  instead  of  accepting  the  teach- 
ings of  God  and  His  prophets  and  apostles.  Are  not  the 
rivers  rising  from  their  pure  springs,  running  down  the 
hillside,  and  imparting  their  sweetness  to  the  gardens  of 
Damascus,  clearer  and  more  crystal  than  the  turbid  waters 
of  Jordan  ?  But  when  man  seeks  mercy  from  Heaven  it  is 
not  for  him  to  dictate  the  terms  on  which  that  mercy  may 
be  given.  Because  the  terms  prescribed  were  different 
from  those  he  had  thought,  and  more  simple  than  he  ex- 
pected, Naaman  turned  and  went  away  in  a  rage.  Many 
in  our  time  treat  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with 
contempt,  because  it  is  different  to  what  they  thought. 
And  are  we  not  told  by  Paul  that  in  his  time  the  Gospel 
of  Christ  was  foolishness  to  those  who  could  not  understand 
that  life  should  proceed  from  death,  or  glory  from  the  cross  ; 
and  to-day  there  are  vain  men  who  in  their  self-sufficiency 
say  "the  Gospel  may  be  good  enough  for  beggars  and 
common  people,  but  it  is  not  good  enough  for  me."  But 
though  I  may  be  simple  and  you  learned,  though  you  may 
be  great  and  I  small,  you,  like  me,  must  take  Heaven's 
mercy  on  Heaven's  own  terms.  It  may  not  be  as  you 
thought,  but  you  must  not  dictate  to  Heaven. 

III.  Notice  finally  how  the  mercy  of  Heaven  declines 
the  co-operation  of  man.  "  My  father  " — and  happy  in  his 
servants  was  Naaman.  Most  servants  can  see  faults  in  their 
master,  but  they  are  not  so  quick  to  point  them  out  with 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  77 


humility  and  kindness  to  their  master  first  of  all.  "  My, 
father,  if  the  prophet  had  bid  thee  do  some  great  thing 
wouldest  thou  not  have  done  it  ?  "  Undoubtedly  he  would. 
What  sank  his  pride  was  that  to  obtain  this  mercy  it  was 
ordained  that  he,  a  great  man  and  honourable,  was  only  to 
do  something  which  any  beggar  in  the  land  of  Israel 
might  have  done.  He  would  have  been  content  to  do 
some  great  thing,  but  his  pride  refused  to  do  a  little  thing. 
But  Heaven  says,  "  My  mercy  is  a  free  gift ;  it  is  not  for 
me  to  offer  or  for  me  to  take  any  price  for  it."  Yet  to-day 
thousands  of  men  stand  outside  the  pale  of  Christianity  for 
this  very  reason,  that  they  want  to  buy  the  mercy  of 
Heaven.  If  the  service  of  the  Pope  bid  a  man  walk  on 
hard  peas  from  Rome  to  Edinburgh  he  will  do  it,  or  a 
Hindoo  at  the  command  of  his  priest  will  hang  himself 
to  an  oak  tree  and  remain  suspended  till  he  dies.  No 
fast  is  too  long,  no  penance  too  severe,  no  price  too  great 
with  which  to  buy  eternal  salvation.  But  why  should  men 
spend  their  strength  for  that  which  is  not  bread,  or  labour 
for  that  which  satisfieth  not  ?  They  would  die  freely  and 
gladly,  but  they  turn  away  with  scorn  when  the  message 
is  of  a  free  salvation — to  buy  without  money  and  without 
price.  Yet  these  are  the  terms  on  which  the  mercy  of 
Heaven  is  offered  to  you  and  to  me.  If  you  will  put  aside 
all  thought  of  purchasing  forgiveness,  if  you  will  put  aside 
all  self-reliance,  if  you  will  receive  it  as  a  free  gift,  then  in 
His  great  name,  and  as  His  ambassador,  on  the  authority  of 
His  book,  I  pledge  you,  on  the  faith  of  God  and  the  honour 
of  His  Son — I  pledge  you  the  faith  of  God,  as  I  must 
live  or  die  for  my  trust,  and  1  do  so  to  every  one — 
"Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be 
saved." 

W.  J.  W. 

XLIII.     The  Reality  of  the  Invisible.     2  Kings  vi. 

17.  "  And  Elisha  prayed,  and  said,  Lord,  I  pray  Thee,  open 
his  eyes,  that  he  may  see.  And  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
young  man  ;  and  he  saw  :  and,  behold,  the  mountain  was  full 
of  horses  and  chariots  off?-e  round  about  Elisha." 

GREAT  outbursts  of  the  miraculous,  attesting  God's  ener- 
getic presence  at  particular  times  in  particular  places,  ap- 


78  OLTLINES  ON  THE 

pear  to  recur  in  the  sacred  history  in  cycles,  when  truth  has 
to  be  announced  or  to  be  saved  from  extinction.  Each 
period  has  its  characteristic  miracles.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  a  likeness  between  them,  arising  from  having  more 
or  less  of  a  common  purpose  or  object  in  view.  This 
miracle  of  Elisha  is  peculiarly  evangelical.  It  anticipates 
such  miracles  of  our  Lord  as  that  by  which  He  healed  the 
blind  man,  in  which  at  the  same  time  He  gave  the  gift 
of  natural  sight  and  the  higher  gift  of  spiritual  light.  Let 
us  recall  the  circumstances  under  which  this  miracle  was 
worked. 

The  Syrian  king,  resolved  to  capture  Elisha,  surrounded 
by  night  the  small  town  of  Dothan  where  the  prophet  was 
living.  The  servant  returns  with  the  news  in  the  morning, 
and  the  statement  of  his  master  that  "  they  that  are  with 
us  are  more  than  they  that  are  with  them,"  must  have 
seemed  at  first  absurd  to  him.  But  Elisha  prayed  the  Lord 
to  open  the  servant's  eyes  that  he  might  see  that  world 
which  is  above,  around,  beyond  the  world  of  sense.  God 
gave  him  a  new  power  of  spiritual  vision,  and  he  saw  and 
was  assured  of  God's  sure  protection  through  the  agencies 
of  those  ministers  of  His  who  do  His  pleasure.  This  is  a 
picture  of  the  act  of  faith  in  the  human  soul. 

I.  Faith  is  not  an  act  of  the  natural  imagination.  Faith 
deals  with  facts  and  realities. 

II.  Faith  is  not  the  final  act  of  a  process  of  natural 
reasoning.  The  understanding  cannot  compel  faith.  Faith 
is  an  act  of  the  whole  inward  nature.  What  is  it  which 
makes  the  desire  of  the  heart  and  the  evidence  of  the  under- 
standing result  in  the  perfect  act  of  faith  ?  "  The  Lord 
opened  the  eyes."  It  is  a  gift  from  God  which  nature 
cannot  rival  or  anticipate. 

III.  The  lessons  to  be  derived  from  this  history, 
(i)  We  have  a  remedy  against  despondency. 

(2)  We  see  our  true  patent  of  nobility.  With  eyes  open 
upon  the  great  realities  we  remember  our  destiny. 

(3)  We  have  the  secret  of  real  effective  prayer.  Prayer 
is  cold  and  heartless  because  the  danger  is  not  realized,  and 
because  men  see  nothing  of  Him  to  whom  prayer  is  ad- 
dressed.    "  Lord  open  mine  eyes  that  I  may  see." 

H.  P.  L. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  79 

XLIV.  The  Power  of  the  Past.  2  Kings,  xiii.  20, 
21.  "  And  Elisha  died,  and they  buried  him.  .  .  .  When 
the  man  was  let  down,  and  touched  the  bones  of  Elisha,  he 
revived,  and  stood  up  oti  his  feet.'" 

THERE  is  no  other  miracle  in  Holy  Scripture  which  is  ex- 
actly like  this  ;  and  it  certainly  is  much  more  striking  than 
any  of  the  miracles  which  were  performed  by  Elisha  in  his 
lifetime.  It  produced  a  great  effect  upon  the  Jews,  and  they 
held  this  miracle  to  be  Elisha's  chief  title  to  distinction 
among  the  prophets.  It  is  no  reason  against  the  truth  of 
a  miracle  that  we  men  are  unable  to  discover  any  adequate 
reason  for  its  having  been  worked.  This  difficulty  will  not 
weigh  with  any  humble  and  reverent  Christian  who  does 
not  already  consider  himself  to  be  a  sort  of  private  secretary 
to  the  Master  of  the  Universe.  And  yet  we  may  trace 
a  particular  motive  for  this  miracle.  Elisha's  voice  was 
silenced,  and  it  assured  the  people  that  his  words  were  still 
living ;  it  convinced  them  that  his  warnings,  promises  and 
encouragements,  had  not  died  away  with  his  dying  breath. 
Every  tomb  does  not  contain  the  bones  of  an  Elisha,  but 
there  is  that  in  the  past  which  has  power  to  quicken  the 
present.  It  may  be  out  of  sight,  but  it  only  waits  the  time 
when  the  languid  wills,  the  cold  hearts,  the  dying  convic- 
tions of  the  present  shall  touch  it,  and  by  it  be  reinvigorated 
with  life. 

I.  To  a  nation  the  past  is  a  power.  It  is  so  powerful  and 
precious  an  element  of  its  life,  that  wise  patriots  and  rulers 
do  all  they  can  to  preserve  it.  A  degenerate  posterity  asks 
itself  why,  with  the  same  blood  in  its  veins,  it  should  be  in- 
capable of  the  virtues  of  those  who  have  gone  before  it  ? 

II.  To  a  Church  the  past  is  a  power.  The  sacred  Scrip- 
tures are  largely  a  record  of  the  past.  The  great  saints 
and  heroes  of  the  Church  have  lived  in  the  past.  In  prac- 
tice and  in  truth  the  Church  must  strive  to  stand  on  the  old 
paths. 

III.  Every  Christian  soul  has  its  past,  its  sacred  memo- 
ries, known  only  to  itself  and  to  God.  Souls  have  their 
periods  of  depression  and  decline.  There  is  no  such  thing 
as  indefectible  grace.  A  deadness  may  have  come  upon 
the  soul,  and  eternal  realities  may  have  been  displaced  in 
its  affections  by  things  of  time.     Then  the  memory  of  the 


80  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

days  of  old  may  result  in  a  true  spiritual  rising  from  the 
dead.  Do  not  let  us  forget  the  past.  It  has  a  great  place 
in  God's  teaching  of  His  Church,  and  in  His  guidance  of 
the  soul. 

H.  P.  L. 


XLV.       Rab-shakeh's     Question     to     Hezekiah. 

2  Kings  xviii.  19.  "And  Rab-shakeh  said  unto  them,  Speak 
ye  now  to  Hezekiah,  Thus  saiih  the  great  king,  the  king  of 
Assyria,   What  confidence  is  this  wherein  thou  trustest  ?  " 

It  is  difficult  to  say  at  first  what  is  the  motive  of  a  question 
like  this.  It  may  be  conscious  strength  forcing  a  virtually 
conquered  foe  to  bite  the  dust ;  it  may  be  common  sense 
pleading  with  the  false  pride  of  a  weak  antagonist  against 
the  prolongation  of  a  hopeless  struggle. 

The  Assyrian  generals  had  arrived  at  Jerusalem,  and 
they  asked  for  an  interview  with  the  king  to  demand  sur- 
render. Hezekiah  sent  three  of  his  trusted  officers  to  parley 
with  them,  and  the  burden  of  Rab-shakeh's  address  is  the 
hopelessness  of  their  resistance.  "  What  confidence  is  this 
wherein  thou  trustest  ?  " 

But  Hezekiah  had  an  answer  to  give  which,  as  the  event 
proved,  was  sufficient.  He  trusted  in  the  Lord  Jehovah. 
Rab-shakeh's  question  still  lives.  It  is  asked  year  after 
year,  century  after  century,  of  societies  of  men,  and  of  in- 
dividual men.  When  it  is  asked  of  nations  the  answer  is 
very  various,  but  there  is  only  one  real  ground  of  confidence 
— a  public  conscience  in  a  country  which  can  trust  God, 
because  it  acknowledges  and  fears  God. 

The  soul  of  man  needs  something  to  rest  on.  It,  too, 
must  have  a  confidence  wherein  to  trust.  Life  has  its 
turning  points  when,  at  the  summons  of  some  Rab-shakeh, 
the  soul  is  forced  to  look  its  real  source  of  confidence  in 
the  face.  Especially  is  this  the  case  as  death  approaches. 
Then  "  What  confidence  ?  " 

I.  In  some  cases  it  is  confidence  in  self. 

II.  Not  seldom  do  men  trust  in  Egypt,  in  something 
that  is  external  to  themselves,  the  strength  or  weakness  of 
which  they  never  examine,  but  which  satisfies  the  need  of 
trust  in  something.     There  is  confidence  in  reputation,  or 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  Si 


in  wealth,  or  in  friends.  But  the  true  confidence  of  the 
soul  is  the  perfect,  well-founded  trust  in  the  Being  who 
made  it.  Confidence  in  God  and  distrust  of  self  is  the 
secret  strength  of  the  soul.  To  those  who  know  this,  the 
sure  ground  of  confidence,  death,  like  Rab-shakeh,  may- 
present  his  summons,  but  he  finds  them  prepared.  With 
St.  Paul,  they  exclaim,  "  I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and 
am  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have 
committed  to  Him  against  that  day." 

H.  P.  L. 


XLVI.  The  Spread  Letter.  2  Kings  xix.  14.  "And 
Hczckiah  received  the  letter  of  the  hand  of  the  messengers,  and 
read  it.  A?id  Hezekiah  went  up  into  the  house  of  the  Zord, 
and  spread  it  before  the  Lord." 

The  letter  was  an  insolent  cartel  of  defiance,  which  the 
Assyrian  king,  Sennacherib,  sent  full  of  as  much  blas- 
phemous defiance  against  God  as  of  insolence  to  God's 
servant.  And  in  the  true  homcetheistic  point  of  view,  this 
same  letter  represents  a  conflict  between  Assyria  and 
Judah  as  being  a  duel  and  struggle  between  the  gods  of 
one  nation  and  the  God  of  the  other.  And  the  point  of  it 
all  is  :  don't  let  the  god  in  whom  thou  trustest  deceive  thee, 
saying,  Jerusalem  shall  not  be  delivered  into  the  hands  of 
Assyria.  Thou  hast  seen  what  Assyria  has  done  to  all 
lands,  and  is  thy  God  any  better  than  theirs  ?  And  so 
the  king  of  Judah,  very  simple  and  child-like,  picks  up 
the  piece  of  blasphemy  and  goes  up  to  the  temple  and 
spreads  it  all  before  God.  With  a  very  naive  piece  of 
unconscious  symbolism  he  takes  the  letter  and  spreads 
it  out  before  God,  and  the  meaning  of  that  follows  in  the 
prayer,  "  Lord,  open  thou  mine  eyes,"  etc.  It  is  for  Thee 
to  act  ! 

And  so  that,  as  I  take  it,  is  the  essential  meaning  of  the 
thing. 

I.  First  of  all  then,  about  what  I  call  the  meaning 
of  this  spreading  before  the  Lord  of  something  which 
influences  and  agitates  us.  It  is  the  appeal  to  God's 
knowledge,  and  in  your  case  and  mine  it  takes  this  shape 
and   form,  and   it  needs  the  truth  to   make  it  very  plain 

G 


82  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

and  clear  to  ourselves,  that  when  some  great  anxiety 
strikes  its  talons  deep  into  our  hearts,  the  Eyes  up  yon- 
der see  all  about  it.  A  plain  old  piece  of  common- 
place, but  oh !  there  is  a  fountain  of  deep,  unutter- 
able consolation  when  a  man  realizes  this.  And  that, 
as  I  take  it,  is  what  our  Lord  reiterates  over  and 
over  again  ;  the  Father  which  is  in  secret,  which  seeth  in 
secret. 

"  Think  not  thou  canst  sigh, 
And  thy  Father  is  not  nigh  ; 
Think  not  thou  canst  weep  a  tear, 
And  thy  Father  is  not  near." 

He  spread  it  before  the  Lord  and  said  to  Him  :  "  Thine 
eyes  behold,  and  yet  I  bring  it  to  Thee  and  ask  what  Thou 
wouldest." 

II.  And  besides,  that  double  attitude  must  characterise 
all  our  communion  with  Him.  "  Thou  knowest  it  all,  and 
yet  hast  Thou  not  said,  Come,  tell  it  to  me."  And  there  is 
nothing  so  very  wonderful  in  that,  if  the  Father's  name 
covers  in  the  Divine  heart  anything  like  the  paternal  tender- 
ness upon  earth.  Pour  out  your  hearts  before  Him  all  ye 
people  !  Ye  do  not  tell  Him  anything  He  does  not  know 
full  well  before  ye  begin,  but  it  is  something  to  get  the  voice 
of  our  own  hearts,  and  to  get  a  firmer  grip  of  faith  while 
we  are  talking  to  Him.  And  so  he  spread  the  letter  before 
the  Lord  :  "  Open  Thine  eyes,  and  see  ;  bow  down  Thine 
ear,  and  hear."  It  is  an  appeal  to  God — pardon  the  appa- 
rent irreverence — to  look  after  His  own  business  !  He 
spread  the  letter  before  the  Lord  and  said,  "  Hear  the  words 
of  Sennacherib  which  he  hath  sent  to  reproach  the  Living 
God."  I  say  nothing  about  myself,  but  it  is  Thine  honour 
which  is  threatened.  If  this  insolent  braggart  does  the 
thing  which  he  threatens,  then  I  throw  the  consequences 
upon  Thyself,  and  if  I  go  down,  then  it  will  be  said,  Foras- 
much as  this  Jehovah  was  not  able  to  save  His  people, 
therefore  He  has  let  them  perish,  and  the  uncouth  gods 
with  the  barbarous  names  and  those  who  worship  them,  will 
say,  Jehovah  is  a  name  without  meaning,  Thy  name  which  is 
above  every  name  !  So,  see  thou  to  it.  With  all  humility, 
yet  with  all  self-confidence,  if  a  man  has  not  got  something 
like  that  in  his  prayers,  they  are  poor  prayers  after  all ! 
Ask  Him  not  so  much  to  deliver  you,  as  to  be  true  to  His 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  83 

character  and  true  to  His  promises,  to  be  self-consistent 
with  all  that  He  has  been,  and  feel,  as  we  have  a  right  to 
feel,  that  if  any  human  soul,  that  ever  in  the  faintest,  poor- 
est, humblest  manner,  put  out  a  trembling  hand  of  confi- 
dence towards  His  great  hand  to  grasp  it,  was  suffered  to 
go  down  and  to  perish,  there  is  a  blight  and  a  blot  on  the 
fair  fame  of  God  before  the  whole  creation,  which  nothing 
can  obliterate.  But  it  cannot  be  but  the  feeblest  cry  shall 
be  answered,  and  the  faintest  faith  rewarded,  else  shame 
would  cover  the  Name  that  is  above  every  name.  "  Not 
for  your  sakes,  be  it  known  unto  you  ye  House  of  Israel, 
but  for,"  etc.  Let  us  take  the  string  of  thought,  that  not 
only  for  our  own  poor  selves — though,  blessed  be  God,  He 
does  take  our  happiness  as  a  worthy  object — but  because 
His  honour  and  fair  fame  are  so  inextricably  wound 
with  our  well-being  that  He  must  answer  the  cries  of  His 
people. 

III.  Let  us  take  out  of  this  story,  not  only  what  we 
ought  to  do  when  we  come  to  Him  in  prayer,  but  look 
at  the  kind  of  things  which  we  ought  to  take  to  God. 
Nothing  that  dulls  me,  nothing  that  makes  a  danger,  or 
a  difficulty,  or  a  trial,  or  a  temptation,  or  a  blasphemy 
with  which  His  name  is  polluted,  but  should  be  at  once 
spread  out  before  the  Lord. 

But  most  of  all,  to  be  a  lesson  which  seems  to  me  to  be 
most  precious,  the  common  things  of  everyday  life ;  if 
there  is  a  strange  piece  of  furniture  to  be  added  to  the 
sacred  vessels  of  the  temple,  a  scrawled  letter  of  a  heathen 
king, — but  perhaps  there  was  nothing  in  the  House  of  GoJ 
that  day  that  was  half  so  precious  as  that  bit  of  parchment. 
And  so  do  you  learn  this  lesson :  do  not  be  afraid  of 
asking  God  about  trifles,  about  common  everyday  things. 
The  small  boy  that  one  of  our  modern  writers  tells  us  of. 
that  used  to  pray  to  have  strength  given  him  that  he 
might  learn  his  Latin  declension,  had  a  better  knowledge 
of  prayer  than  men  of  the  world  can  understand. 

IV.  And  take  the  other  lesson  :  If  you  have  not  been  in 
the  habit  of  going  to  the  House  of  God  at  other  times,  it 
will  be  a  hard  job  to  find  your  way  there  when  your  eyes 
are  blinded  with  tears,  and  your  hearts  heavy  with  anxiety. 
You  will  find  that  this  man  Hezekiah  had  cultivated  a 
habit  of  trusting  God  and  referring  everything  to  him,  so 


84  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

he  went  straight  into  the  Temple  as  by  instinct,  where  he 
could  have  known  his  way  in  the  dark, — and  spread  this 
letter  before  the  Lord,  as  a  matter  of  course. 

It  is  a  poor  thing  when  a  man's  religion  is  like  a  water- 
proof coat,  that  is  only  good  to  wear  when  it  rains,  and 
has  to  be  taken  off  when  the  weather  improves  a  little  ! 
If  you  want  to  get  a  blessedness  of  fellowship  with  God 
and  help  from  Him  in  the  dark  days,  learn  the  road  to  the 
Temple  in  sunshine  and  gladness,  and  do  not  wait  for  the 
bellow  of  the  pitiless  storm,  and  darkness  upon  the  path, 
before  you  go  to  the  Temple  of  God. 

V.  And  then,  what  do  we  get  by  this  habit  of  spread- 
ing out  everything  before  God  ?  Well,  we  get  valu- 
able counsel.  I  do  not  know  anything  that  has  such  a 
power  of  clearing  a  man's  way,  scattering  mists,  removing 
misconceptions,  letting  us  see  the  true  nature  of  some 
dazzling  specious  temptations,  as  the  habit  of  turning  to 
prayer. 

The  thing  that  perplexes  us  is,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out 
of  a  hundred,  that  the  steadiness  of  the  hand  that  holds 
the  microscope  is  affected  by  the  beating  of  the  heart,  and 
the  passionate  desires  and  wishes,  and  so  there  is  nothing 
denned  and  clear  ;  it  is  all  a  haze.  It  must  be  held  fast 
and  firm,  the  light  within  us.  Brother,  clearness  of  vision, 
sound,  worldly,  practical  common  sense — and  there  is 
nothing  better  except  God's  grace,  which  does  manifest 
itself  in  sound,  practical,  worldly  common  sense — is  most 
certainly  of  God,  when  we  keep  our  hearts  in  equilibrium. 

Of  ourselves  we  nothing  can  ; 
Full  soon  were  we  downridden, 
But  for  us  fights  a  proper  man 
Whom  God  Himself  hath  bidden." 

So  sang  good  old  Martin  Luther  long  ago,  and  so  may  we 
say.  God's  help  is  given  to  the  man  that  takes  the  letter 
and  spreads  it  before  the  Lord.  Do  you  remember  that 
magnificent  burst,  one  of  the  grandest  sonnets  of  Hebrew 
poetry,  in  which  this  dim  prayer  of  Hezekiah  was  answered  ? 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  all  Israel,  this  is  the  word  which 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  concerning  him.  The  Virgin  of  the 
House  of  Israel  hath  heard  him,"  etc.,  etc.,  and  you  and  I 
shall  get  like  answers. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  85 

VI.  And  the  last  thing  I  shall  notice  which  we  get  by 
this  habit  of  spreading  things  before  the  Lord  is, — a  very 
accurate  and  very  easily  applied  test.  I  do  not  wonder 
that  so  many  of  us  do  not  like  to  pray  about  our  plans  and 
about  our  anxieties  ;  it  is  either  because  the  plans  have  got 
no  God  in  them,  and  the  anxieties  have  got  no  faith.  And 
you  may  depend  upon  it  that  anything  that  we  cannot 
pray  about  we  had  better  not  touch.  Any  anxiety  that 
is  not  substantial  enough  to  bear  lifting  and  laying  down 
before  God,  ought  never  to  trouble  us. 

Test  your  lives,  your  thoughts,  your  affairs,  your  pur- 
poses by  this, — Will  they  stand  carriage  to  the  Temple  ? — 
if  not,  the  sooner  you  get  rid  of  them  the  better.  And 
then,  "  Be  careful  for  nought,  but  in  everything,  by 
prayer  and  supplication  and  thanksgiving  make  your 
requests  known  unto  God,"  and,  in  spite  of  all  the  Sen- 
nacheribs  who  have  poured  out  their  blatant  blasphemies 
— "  the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all  understanding,  shall 
keep  you," — with  a  better  buckler  and  shield, — "  shall  keep 
your  hearts  and  minds  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

A.  M. 


XLVII.  Times  and  Men.  1  Chron.  xii.  32.  "  Men 
that  had  understanding  of  the  times,  to  know  what  Israel 
ought  to  do. 

It  was  a  dark  hour  when  Saul  and  all  the  strength  and 
pride  of  the  elect  nation  lay  dead  on  the  mountains  of 
Gilboa,  and  David  uttered,  as  he  alone  could  utter,  the 
wail  of  the  national  heart.  It  was  like  the  funeral  dirge  of 
the  nation,  and  it  would  have  been  so  had  there  not  been 
men  there  "  that  had  understanding  of  the  times  to  know 
what  Israel  ought  to  do."  God  be  thanked  that  at  the 
worst  crisis,  men  of  Divine  discernment  rarely  fail  to 
appear,  men  who  have  an  eye  on  the  motion  of  the  great 
Leader's  hand,  and  who,  led  by  Him,  save  the  State. 

These  words  reveal  to  us  very  clearly  what  Churches, 
saints,  and  ministers  are  meant  for.  They  are  the  world's 
beacon  lights,  the  pungent  salt  of  its  life. 

I.  The  times  which  these  men  understood. 

Men   were  then    watching   and   waiting  for  their  king. 


86  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

They  were  times  in  which  passionate  self-will  had  brought 
a  nation  to  ruin,  and  in  which  a  king  who  could  rule  after 
God's  own  counsel  was  needed  to  save  the  State. 

The  demoralisation  during  Saul's  reign  was  fearfully 
rapid.  As  it  approached  its  close  we  see  king  and  people, 
God-forsaken,  crying  out  to  Satan  for  help  and  guidance. 
The  king,  in  the  anguish  of  his  despair,  calls  up  the  dead 
to  counsel  him  ;  hears,  or  thinks  he  hears,  from  those  awful 
lips  the  sentence  of  doom  on  his  house  and  on  his  people ; 
rushes  desperate  to  battle,  and  expiates  his  reckless  mis- 
rule by  a  suicide's  death.  This  is  all  profoundly  symbol  ic,- 
symbolic  of  a  darker,  deeper  ruin,  from  which  it  needed  a 
stronger  than  David  to  save. 

God  has  written  in  this  Israel's  history  His  statute  and 
ordinance  of  national,  domestic  and  personal  life.  Its 
significance  waxes  rather  than  wanes  through  the  ages  ; 
the  last  age  will  read  more  fondly,  more  reverently  the  tale 
of  the  infancy  and  childhood  of  the  world. 

When  the  wreck  of  their  worldly  hope  was  utter,  a 
divinely-commissioned  man  appeared.  David  did  not  dare 
to  touch  the  sceptre  till  the  Unseen  Ruler  placed  it  in  his 
hand.  His  profoundest  conviction,  a  conviction  which 
never  failed  him  through  life,  was  that  the  Word  of  the 
Lord  was  the  only  ruler  of  men.  That  man  swiftly  re- 
trieved the  ruin  of  the  nation,  and  after  a  prosperous  reign 
left  the  most  splendid  monarchy  to  his  son. 

The  understanding  of  those  times  was  simply  having  an 
eye,  not  for  David,  but  for  David's  godly  submission  to  the 
heavenly  King. 

II.  The  men  who  had  understanding  of  the  times. 

These  were  just  the  foremost  men  in  Israel,  the  men 
of  whose  discernment  of  God's  anointed  saved  the  State. 
They  came  by  troops  to  crown  him.  Their  action  laid  the 
basis  of  the  broad  empire  which  David  and  Solomon  ruled. 
Who  are  our  foremost  men  ?  The  men  having  an  under- 
standing of  these  times,  and  God's  appointed  captains  and 
leaders  by  whom,  as  by  Gideon's  three  hundred,  He  is 
saving  the  nation.  There  are  those  whom  God  sets  first, 
with  higher  advantages,  privileges,  endowments,  than  their 
fellows.  God's  elect,  elect  for  duty.  Children  of  the  elec- 
tion be  first  in  service  and  make  your  calling  and  election 
sure. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  87 

The  world  cannot  prosper  under  its  self-elected  king. 
"  We  have  no  king  but  Caesar !  "  cried  God's  people  once, 
and  Caesar  harried  them  and  crushed  them  to  death.  Full 
of  misery,  the  world  turns  its  pleading  eye  heavenwards. 
Its  woe  is  always  a  mute  cry  in  the  ear  of  one  as  merciful 
as  God.  It  has  a  right  to  ask  of  those  who  profess  to  be 
His  friends  and  fellow-workers,  if  they  can  teach  and  help 
it.  Show  us  what  Christ  can  do  for  a  soul,  for  a  home,  for 
a  community,  that  we  may  know  whether  God  has  in  very 
deed  visited  His  world.  Think  on  this,  holy  brethren,  par- 
takers of  the  heavenly  calling,  and  consider  what  manner  of 
men  ye  ought  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation  and  godliness. 

III.  Their  work  as  the  great  pattern  of  Divine  work — 
work  for  man,  work  for  God,  while  time  endures. 

The  work  of  these  men,  making  David  king,  is  the 
model,  under  Jewish  forms,  of  the  work  to  which  we  have 
to  gird  ourselves  if  we  are  to  be  teachers  and  guides  of 
men.  "  Ye  are  my  witnesses "  is  God's  word  to  each 
Christian.  The  men  who  have  an  understanding  of  the 
times,  and  who  know  what  Israel  ought  to  do,  are  the  men 
who  are  spending  their  whole  thought  and  strength  in  this 
work,  the  enthronement  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  human  hearts. 
It  is  the  essential  patriotism.  They  made  David  king,  and 
society  arose  as  from  death  on  the  instant.  It  was  the 
Lord's  kingdom  which  David  restored.  Men  live  under 
the  Lord's  sceptre,  they  only  exist  under  Satan's.  The  life 
flushes  up  again  from  the  depths  when  the  sunlight  of  the 
Lord's  smile  beams  on  it.  There  is  joy  and  gladness  in 
bounding  hearts  when  the  Lord  sends  His  times  of  revival 
on  the  world.  It  is  God's  great  work  in  all  ages,  bringing 
in  His  King  to  sorrowful,  sin-stricken  human  hearts.  He 
who  is  winning  one  act  of  homage  for  God's  truth,  or 
quickening  one  pulse  responsive  to  His  love  in  one  human 
soul,  is  accomplishing  a  work  for  man  for  God  which  defies 
the  strength  of  the  mightiest  armies  and  puts  the  wisdom 
of  the  wisest  Parliament  to  shame.  And  how  is  this  work 
to  be  done,  how  is  the  witness  to  be  borne  ? 

(1)  Walk  by  faith.  "  Nevertheless,"  said  the  sad  Saviour, 
"when  the  Son  of  man  cometh  shall  He  find  faith  on  the 
earth."  Was  He  looking  on  our  days,  our  faithless  days, 
we  are  tempted  to  ask  ?  Here,  at  least,  among  Christ's 
disciples,   Christ's  preachers,   let   men   see    that   there  are 


88  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

those  who  believe  in  resurrection,  in  the  far-off  interest  of 
tears,  the  fruit  of  godly  travail  and  patient  pain.  Let  us 
try  to  live  a  life  which  simply  cannot  explain  itself  except 
by  taking  into  account  eternity  and  heaven. 

(2)  Abide  in  love.  The  Church  is  a  home  where  love  and 
peace  should  reign.  There  is  nothing  so  saddening  as  to 
see  the  Church  a  world  in  miniature,  with  the  same  unruly 
tempers,  the  same  selfish  passions,  the  same  class  anti- 
pathies and  isolations,  a  world  all  over,  of  the  earth  earthy, 
save  that  it  calls  itself  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

(3)  Abound  in  noble,  constant,  self-denying  work.  Justify 
your  pre-eminent  privilege  by  your  ministry  to  mankind. 
God  looks  to  the  Church  to  justify  His  ways  to  men.  Fear 
no  burdens.  Let  your  work  reward  you.  Consider  Him 
and  endure.  "  Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters,  thou  shalt 
find  it  after  many  days." 

J.  B.  B. 


XLVIII.  The  Transitoriness  of  Life.  1  Chron. 
xxix.  15.  "  For  we  are  strangers  before  Thee,  and  sojourners, 
as  were  all  our  fathers  :  our  days  on  the  earth  are  as  a  shadow, 
and  there  is  none  abiding." 

The  occasion  on  which  these  words  were  uttered  was  one 
of  the  most  memorable  in  the  history  of  Israel.  David  was 
approaching  the  end  of  his  earthly  career,  and  in  transferring 
the  crown  to  Solomon,  he  was  anxious  to  secure  that  the 
cherished  purpose  of  his  heart  in  reference  to  the  building 
of  the  Temple  should  be  fully  carried  out.  He  asked  the 
people  to  follow  his  example  by  consecrating  themselves 
and  their  substance  to  the  Lord,  and  the  result  was  such  an 
overflow  of  liberality  as  gladdened  David's  heart,  and  he 
poured  forth  his  thanksgiving  in  a  strain  of  devotion,  which 
for  grandeur,  humility  and  pathos  is  well  nigh  unrivalled  in 
the  Bible. 

I.  Notice  the  fleeting  character  of  our  earthly  life  as  sug- 
gested by  those  words. 

II.  The  believer's  support  under  the  experience  of  the 
transitoriness  of  the  present  life.  When  David  says  here 
there  is  none  abiding,  he  is  speaking  only  of  men,  for  all 
through  this  exquisite  expression  of  devotional  fervour  we 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  89 

feel  the  pulsations  of  his  faith  in  the  eternity  of  God.  Men 
come  and  go,  but  God  abideth,  and  in  His  continuous  care 
we  have  the  richest  consolation,  alike  when  we  see  those 
taken  from  us  whom  we  loved,  and  when  we  ourselves  are 
about  to  depart. 

III.  The  believer's  home  after  this  life  is  passed.  The 
sojourner  is  seeking  a  fatherland.  We  are  going  home, 
and  death  is  but  the  unrobing  vestibule  of  our  Father's 
House. 

W.  M.  T. 


XLIX.  Esther's  Prayer.  Esther  vii.  3.  " If  I  have 
found  favour  in  thy  sight,  O  king  and  if  it  please  the  king,  let  my 
life  be  given  me  at  my  petition,  and  my  people  at  my  request" 

Esther's  appeal  to  king  Ahasuerus  is  the  crisis  and 
turning  point  of  a  history  well  known  to  all  of  us.  Haman 
had  conceived  a  bitter  hatred  against  the  Jews  and  resolved 
to  be  their  destruction.  Having  well  considered  how  he 
was  to  go  about  it,  he  approached  the  king  with  a  represen- 
tation to  the  effect  that  there  was  in  his  provinces  "a  certain 
people,"  whose  laws  were  different  from  the  king's  laws,  and 
therefore  it  was  not  for  the  king's  profit  that  they  should 
be  suffered,  and  proposed  that  they  should  be  destroyed. 

We  are  disposed  to  ask  how  any  man  in  his  senses  could 
agree  to  so  unwise  a  proposal  as  this  ;  but  we  must  take 
into  account  the  peculiar  temper  in  which  the  king  was  in- 
dulging at  this  time.  He  had  withdrawn  himself  from  all 
contact  with  his  subjects  and  even  with  his  court.  It  was  in 
fact  the  assumption  on  his  part  of  a  kind  of  divinity, — the 
state  of  the  gods,  who  dwell  in  peace  and  quietness  and 
refuse  to  be  troubled  by  the  touch  of  mortal  anxieties  or 
sorrows.  He  was  in  this  state  of  mind  when  the  proposal 
was  skilfully  made  to  him  by  one  who  knew  his  business 
well.  It  was  put  to  him  on  the  ground  of  State  policy. 
This  Jewish  people  would  not  subject  themselves  to  the 
king's  laws.  Haman  got  the  king  to  commit  himself  by 
the  publication  of  the  edict,  before  any  time  for  reflection 
was  allowed  him. 

It  is  a  very  good  specimen  of  temptation,  and  many 
temptations  to  which  human  beings  are  yielding  every  day 
have  their  striking  analogies  to  this  specimen. 


9o  OUTLINES   ON   THE 


King  Ahasucrus  had  a  tempter  who  precisely  gauged  the 
condition  of  his  mind,  and  knew  exactly  how  to  deal  with 
it.  What  do  you  suppose  was  in  the  mind  of  the  king 
when  this  proposal  was  made  to  him,  about  "  this  certain 
people  "  ?  Was  it  the  thought  that  they  were  men  like 
himself,  with  the  anxieties,  the  susceptibilities,  the  capaci- 
ties of  joy  and  sorrow,  of  which  he  had  had  experience  — 
men  knit  together  in  those  relations  of  life  that  gladden 
it  and  which  enhance  its  possibility  for  sorrow.  Men 
capable  of  experiencing  the  huge  pangs  that  should  be 
connected  with  such  a  massacre  as  was  destined  to  take 
place  ?  Nothing  of  the  kind  was  in  his  thoughts.  They 
were  so  many  human  items  in  a  tax-gatherer's  roll,  so 
many  of  the  swarming  myriads  that  floated  vaguely  before 
his  mind's  eye,  and  they  were  to  disappear. 

The  tempter  winds  up  the  proposal  with  a  subtle  and 
ingenious  stroke  of  policy.  Surely  it  was  an  ingenious  way 
to  hinder  the  king's  thinking  of  these  people  as  taxpayers, 
by  offering  him  a  compensation  for  the  loss  their  removal 
would  occasion.  Haman  said  he  had  felt  the  difficulty. 
An  economical  adviser  of  a  king  ought  not  summarily  to 
dismiss  a  multitude  of  taxpayers  from  the  roll,  and  yet  he 
suggests  that  it  will  not  do  for  a  king  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  provinces  to  stand  too  much  upon  so  many 
taxpayers,  more  or  less.  This  was  intended  to  pique  the 
king's  pride,  and  it  had  the  desired  effect.  Haman  was  to 
keep  the  money  and  dispose  of  the  people  as  it  seemed  to 
the  best. 

This  view  which  we  have  been  taking  explains  the 
suddenness  and  the  strength  of  the  revulsion  which  the 
king  experienced  when  Esther,  in  an  agony  of  intense  sup- 
plication, told  him  her  request.  His  horror  is  expressed 
in  these  words  :  "  Who  is  he,  and  where  is  he  that  durst 
presume  in  his  heart  to  do  so  ?  "  That  decree  had  been 
about  some  shadows  of  distant  men  and  women,  that  were 
to  pass  out  of  existence.  With  Esther  in  the  foreground, 
there  stood  behind,  rising  to  view  more  dimly,  yet  percept- 
ively, all  the  spectres  that  would  have  a  right  to  haunt  him 
if  that  decree  were  put  into  execution.  The  whole  thing 
came  suddenly  before  him  as  something  horrible. 

This  is  the  case  set  before  us  here ;  and  now  as  to  lessons 
we  have  to  draw  from  it. 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  91 

I.  This  Scripture  suggests  this  lesson, — that  sin,  con- 
templated at  one  time  with  so  little  sense  of  its  enor- 
mity, that  it  can  be  very  calmly  looked  at  and  done  in 
an  easy  sort  of  way,  may  come  afterwards  to  be  the  cause 
of  those  agonizing  feelings.  The  conviction  that  gives 
the  measure  of  what  the  sin  is  at  the  first  stage  is  not 
inside  the  man.  It  is  standing  outside ;  it  is  heard,  but 
not  clearly  heard.  A  man  can  shut  the  door  and  bar 
the  windows,  and  make  the  fire  burn  bright,  and  persuade 
himself  that  there  is  not  a  great  deal  to  listen  to.  It  is  not 
in,  but  the  man  knows  it  is  there  claiming  a  right  to  be  in, 
and  to  make  itself  heard.  By-and-bye,  when  the  sin  is 
accomplished,  a  day  comes  when  conviction  is  found  to  have 
got  in  and  it  speaks  :  "  You  knew  that  I  was  claiming 
a  hearing,  you  would  not  hear  me  then,  but  you  shall  hear 
me  now."  Yes,  there  are  those  who  do  hear  it  for  ever- 
more. 

II.  If  there  are  any  of  us  to  whom  an  admonition  like 
this  should  apply,  the  case  of  such  will  be  worse  than  the 
case  of  Ahasuerus. 

His  crime  was  not  accomplished.  God's  providence 
stepped  in  to  prevent  the  consummation.  But  what  shall 
be  said  of  the  case  of  him  who,  awakened  to  that  frightful 
sense  of  evil  and  dismay,  shall  have  to  feel  that  all  this 
tumult  and  dismay  can  do  just  nothing  at  all  to  undo  the 
sin — his  own  sin — which  he  has  made  and  committed,  and 
which  he  can  never  undo  or  unmake. 

III.  A  man  may  be  his  own  Haman.  It  is  not  a  light 
matter  to  be  shut  up  within  a  man's  own  bosom,  direct- 
ing at  oneself  the  Eye  that  Ahasuerus  directed  against 
Haman. 

IV.  There  is  only  one  remedy  for  such  a  case  as  this. 
The  sacrifice,  the  propitiation  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  received 
by  faith,  is  able  to  put  to  silence  all  these  charges. 

V.  May  we  not  say  that  one  form  of  evil  among  Christians 
in  all  our  Churches  is  one  very  much  like  that  which  we 
have  been  denouncing  in  this  ancient  Eastern  king — a  want 
of  loving  sympathy  for  those  benighted  people  who  do  not 
know  the  Lord.  For  after  all  who  are  these  "certain 
people"?  great  swarming  myriads  of  dusky  people  far 
away,  masses  of  them  which  the  mind  wearily  recognises 
and  dismisses  again.     And  yet  take  each  man  and  woman 


92  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

of  them  one  by  one,  and  how  differently  we  look  on  the  case. 
Let  us  seek  to  be  redeemed  from  all  such  miserable  care- 
lessness about  our  lost  brethren,  from  all  such  miserable 
self-indulgence  and  indolence  of  spirit. 

R.  R. 


L.  The  Insinuation  of  Satan.  Job  ii.  4.  "And 
Satan  answered  and  said,  Skin  for  skin,  yea,  all  that  a  man 
hath  will  he  give  for  his  life." 

The  Book  of  Job  is  a  historical  poem,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  ancient  compositions  of  its  kind  now  known  to  be  in 
existence.  The  text  is  composed  of  the  words  of  the  great 
adversary,  and  we  shall  see  their  real  falsehood,  despite  the 
air  of  plausibility  which  is  thrown  around  them.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  enter  upon  the  numerous  explanations  of 
the  proverb,  "  skin  for  skin,"  which  have  been  suggested  by 
modern  commentators.  In  effect  they  all  amount  to  this, 
that  a  man  will  give  up  everything  to  save  his  life  ;  and  the 
insinuation  of  Satan  is,  that  Job  served  God  from  merely 
selfish  considerations,  so  that  if  the  alternative  should  be 
presented,  that  he  must  either  give  up  God  or  give  up  his 
life,  he  would  hold  to  his  life.  Now  in  this  Satan  was 
only  measuring  Job  by  his  own  bushel. 

Of  course,  there  is  a  degree  of  truth  in  the  assertion.  A 
lie,  pure,  simple,  unadulterated,  does  little  harm  in  the  world. 
To  make  it  in  the  highest  degree  injurious  there  must  be 
some  truth  mixed  up  in  it.  The  worst  liars  are  those  whose 
blade  is  false  but  whose  handle  is  true.  Now  the  handle 
in  which  the  blade  of  this  lie  is  "  hafted  "  is  the  fact  that 
there  is  an  instinctive  love  of  life  in  every  human  being. 
No  one  loves  death  for  its  own  sake.  It  is  our  duty  to 
use  all  proper  means  for  the  prolongation  of  our  lives. 

But  still,  in  spite  of  the  appearance  of  truth  in  it,  the 
affirmation  as  it  stands  is  false.  It  is  not  true  to  the 
history  of  unregenerate  men  ;  far  less  is  it  true  to  that  of 
those  who  have  been  born  again. 

I.  It  is  not  true  to  the  history  even  of  unregenerate 
human  nature. 

The  passions  of  hatred  and  revenge  have  stirred  men  up 
to  deeds  which  even  at  the  moment  of  their  commission 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  93 

they  knew  would  forfeit  their  lives  ;  and  yet  they  have 
deliberately  braved  the  law's  penalty.  The  love  of  ad- 
venture has  led  many  to  risk  their  lives  in  its  gratification. 
At  the  foundation  of  that  cruel  code  in  which  duelling 
held  place  there  lay  this  principle,  that  truth  and  integrity 
and  purity  of  character  ought  to  be  dearer  to  a  man  than 
his  life.  There  are  some  illustrations  of  the  fact  that  even 
among  unconverted  men  life  is  not  always  deemed  the  chief 
consideration. 

II.  If  this  be  true  even  of  unregenerate  men,  how  much 
more  is  it  of  the  renewed  heart  ?  That  which  is  the  ruling 
passion  in  a  man  rules  over  the  love  of  life  as  well  as 
other  things  in  him. 

Now  in  the  truly  godly  one  the  ruling  passion  is  love  to 
God,  and  love  to  his  neighbour  for  God's  sake  ;  and  that 
dominates  over  all  things  else. 

In  proof  of  this,  consider  this  history  of  the  patriarch  of 
Uz.  With  great  cunning  Satan  enlisted  the  patriarch's 
wife  and  his  three  friends  on  his  side,  and  many  aggravat- 
ing things  which  they  said  fell  like  hailstones  on  the  heart 
of  Job  ;  but  they  did  not  shake  his  trust  in  God.  Still 
through  all  his  trouble  he  grasped  the  hand  of  the  Almighty, 
and,  amid  the  accusations  heaped  on  him,  he  said,  "  I  know 
that  my  Redeemer  liveth  ;  and  though  after  my  skin  worms 
destroy  this  body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God."  And 
so  Satan  was  disappointed  and  discomfited, 

Think  again  of  those  three  Hebrew  youths  in  the  fiery 
furnace,  of  Daniel  in  the  den  of  lions,  of  the  jubilant 
shout  of  praise  raised  by  the  noble  army  of  martyrs,  and 
have  you  not  conclusive  proof  that  Satan  spoke  lies  when 
he  said  concerning  the  people  of  God,  "  Skin  for  skin,  yea, 
all  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life  !" 

III.  There  are  two  practical  inferences  to  be  made  from 
the  foregoing  remarks. 

(1)  One  of  the  greatest  dangers  which  beset  the  soul  lies 
here.  Through  that  self-love  to  which  Satan  here  alludes, 
many  of  his  most  insidious  temptations  come  to  us.  He 
has  kept  continually  appealing  to  man's  love  of  life,  and  in 
many  cases  he  has  at  least  partially  succeeded. 

He  tried  it  with  Abraham,  and  so  made  him  lie  unto 
the  king  of  Egypt. 

He  tried  it  with  Isaac,  and  caused  him  to  lie  to  Abimelech. 


92  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

of  them  one  by  one,  and  how  differently  we  look  on  the  case. 
Let  us  seek  to  be  redeemed  from  all  such  miserable  care- 
lessness about  our  lost  brethren,  from  all  such  miserable 
self-indulgence  and  indolence  of  spirit. 

R.  R. 


L.  The    Insinuation   of    Satan.       Job  ii.   4.      u  And 

Satan  answered  and  said,  Skin  for  skin,  yea,  all  that  a  man 
hath  will  he  give  for  his  life." 

The  Book  of  Job  is  a  historical  poem,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  ancient  compositions  of  its  kind  now  known  to  be  in 
existence.  The  text  is  composed  of  the  words  of  the  great 
adversary,  and  we  shall  see  their  real  falsehood,  despite  the 
air  of  plausibility  which  is  thrown  around  them.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  enter  upon  the  numerous  explanations  of 
the  proverb,  "  skin  for  skin,"  which  have  been  suggested  by 
modern  commentators.  In  effect  they  all  amount  to  this, 
that  a  man  will  give  up  everything  to  save  his  life  ;  and  the 
insinuation  of  Satan  is,  that  Job  served  God  from  merely 
selfish  considerations,  so  that  if  the  alternative  should  be 
presented,  that  he  must  either  give  up  God  or  give  up  his 
life,  he  would  hold  to  his  life.  Now  in  this  Satan  was 
only  measuring  Job  by  his  own  bushel. 

Of  course,  there  is  a  degree  of  truth  in  the  assertion.  A 
lie,  pure,  simple,  unadulterated,  does  little  harm  in  the  world. 
To  make  it  in  the  highest  degree  injurious  there  must  be 
some  truth  mixed  up  in  it.  The  worst  liars  are  those  whose 
blade  is  false  but  whose  handle  is  true.  Now  the  handle 
in  which  the  blade  of  this  lie  is  "  hafted  "  is  the  fact  that 
there  is  an  instinctive  love  of  life  in  every  human  being. 
No  one  loves  death  for  its  own  sake.  It  is  our  duty  to 
use  all  proper  means  for  the  prolongation  of  our  lives. 

But  still,  in  spite  of  the  appearance  of  truth  in  it,  the 
affirmation  as  it  stands  is  false.  It  is  not  true  to  the 
history  of  unregenerate  men  ;  far  less  is  it  true  to  that  of 
those  who  have  been  born  again. 

I.  It  is  not  true  to  the  history  even  of  unregenerate 
human  nature. 

The  passions  of  hatred  and  revenge  have  stirred  men  up 
to  deeds  which  even  at  the  moment  of  their  commission 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  93 


they  knew  would  forfeit  their  lives  ;  and  yet  they  have 
deliberately  braved  the  law's  penalty.  The  love  of  ad- 
venture has  led  many  to  risk  their  lives  in  its  gratification. 
At  the  foundation  of  that  cruel  code  in  which  duelling 
held  place  there  lay  this  principle,  that  truth  and  integrity 
and  purity  of  character  ought  to  be  dearer  to  a  man  than 
his  life.  There  are  some  illustrations  of  the  fact  that  even 
among  unconverted  men  life  is  not  always  deemed  the  chief 
consideration. 

II.  If  this  be  true  even  of  unregenerate  men,  how  much 
more  is  it  of  the  renewed  heart  ?  That  which  is  the  ruling 
passion  in  a  man  rules  over  the  love  of  life  as  w%ell  as 
other  things  in  him. 

Now  in  the  truly  godly  one  the  ruling  passion  is  love  to 
God,  and  love  to  his  neighbour  for  God's  sake ;  and  that 
dominates  over  all  things  else. 

In  proof  of  this,  consider  this  history  of  the  patriarch  of 
Uz.  With  great  cunning  Satan  enlisted  the  patriarch's 
wife  and  his  three  friends  on  his  side,  and  many  aggravat- 
ing things  which  they  said  fell  like  hailstones  on  the  heart 
of  Job  ;  but  they  did  not  shake  his  trust  in  God.  Still 
through  all  his  trouble  he  grasped  the  hand  of  the  Almighty, 
and,  amid  the  accusations  heaped  on  him,  he  said,  "  I  know 
that  my  Redeemer  liveth  ;  and  though  after  my  skin  worms 
destroy  this  body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God."  And 
so  Satan  was  disappointed  and  discomfited, 

Think  again  of  those  three  Hebrew  youths  in  the  fiery 
furnace,  of  Daniel  in  the  den  of  lions,  of  the  jubilant 
shout  of  praise  raised  by  the  noble  army  of  martyrs,  and 
have  you  not  conclusive  proof  that  Satan  spoke  lies  when 
he  said  concerning  the  people  of  God,  "  Skin  for  skin,  yea, 
all  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life  !" 

III.  There  are  two  practical  inferences  to  be  made  from 
the  foregoing  remarks. 

(1)  One  of  the  greatest  dangers  which  beset  the  soul  lies 
here.  Through  that  self-love  to  which  Satan  here  alludes, 
many  of  his  most  insidious  temptations  come  to  us.  He 
has  kept  continually  appealing  to  man's  love  of  life,  and  in 
many  cases  he  has  at  least  partially  succeeded. 

He  tried  it  with  Abraham,  and  so  made  him  lie  unto 
the  king  of  Egypt. 

He  tried  it  with  Isaac,  and  caused  him  to  lie  to  Abimelcch. 


94  OUTLINES  ON   THE 

He  tried  it  with  Elijah,  and  he  fled  from  before  the  face 
of  Jezebel.  He  tried  it  with  Peter,  and  the  man  of  rock 
quailed  for  the  moment  be.ore  the  maid-servant  and  denied 
his  Lord.  He  tried  it  with  Demas,  and  in  the  hour  of 
Paul's  extremity  he  forsook  his  friend,  "  having  loved  this 
present  world."  And  he  still  pursues  the  same  method, 
and  will  make  similar  approaches  to  us.  Wherever  we 
turn,  some  appeal  to  our  selfishness  is  made  ;  but  wherever 
it  confronts  us,  let  us  spurn  it  from  us  with  disdain,  saying  : 
"  All  these  things  we  count  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

(2)  The  truest  greatness  of  humanity  lies  in  falsifying 
this  assertion  of  the  devil.  Since  we  call  ourselves  by  the 
name  of  Christ,  let  us  be  distinguished  by  His  unselfishness. 
How  our  littlenesses  and  meannesses  are  rebuked  by  the 
story  of  Christ's  life  and  death  !  In  the  presence  of  that 
infinite  sacrifice  how  poor  and  paltry  does  our  selfishness 
appear  !  We  need  to  have  our  entire  selves  hallowed  by  a 
lofty  consecration  ;  and  when  they  who  bear  the  Master's 
name  shall  be  distinguished  by  the  Master's  likeness,  even 
Satan  himself  will  be  compelled  to  own  his  error,  and  to 
say  :  "  Skin  for  skin,  yea,  all  that  the  Christian  hath  will 
he  give  for  his  Lord." 

W.  M.  T. 


LI.     Broken  Purposes.     Job  xvii.  11.    "  My  purposes  are 

broke/ 1  off" 

What  those  purposes  were  we  cannot  tell  ;  but  how  great 
and  dearly  cherished  we  can  readily  imagine.  Job  had 
been  possessed  of  great  wealth,  and  a  thousand  purposes 
had  been  formed  for  the  enjoyment  of  it.  He  had  many 
friends,  and  a  thousand  purposes  had  gathered  round  their 
attachments.  He  had  a  family  of  sons  and  daughters,  and 
he  had  built  a  thousand  palaces  of  fancy  about  their  future 
paths.  His  sky  had  been  bright  and  clear,  but  in  one 
moment  the  heaven  became  overspread,  and  the  hurricane 
carried  off  at  one  fell  swoop  all  that  he  had  treasured. 
44  My  purposes  are  broken  off." 

How  many  there  are  who  will  hear  in  these  words  only 
the  echo  of  their  own  heart's  cry.     When  one  looks  back 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  95 


on  life,  and  puts  the  result  and  actual  attainments  along- 
side the  aims  and  hopes  with  which  he  started  out,  he 
cannot  but  be  struck  with  the  contrast.  We  are  not,  any 
of  us,  what  we  meant  to  be.  God  has  led  us  by  a  way 
that  we  knew  not  of.  It  is  not  often  that  all  life's  hopes 
are  disappointed,  and  all  its  attachments  riven  by  one 
sudden  blow.  God  is  more  merciful  to  our  weakness  than 
that.  Still,  we  can  all  use  the  words  of  our  text,  "  My 
purposes  are  broken  off."  Let  us  consider  why  our  purposes 
are  broken  off." 

I.  Some  purposes  are  broken  off  because  they  would 
work  evil  for  us. 

II.  Some  of  our  purposes  are  broken  off  because  they 
would  work  evil  for  others.  The  purposes  which  we  form 
for  our  children  are  not  always  the  best  and  the  wisest  for 
them,  and  God,  who  sees  farther  than  we,  takes  care  that 
those  purposes  shall  be  broken  off. 

III.  Our  purposes  are  broken  off,  partly  for  own  sakes, 
partly  for  the  sake  of  others.  They  are  broken  off  that 
others  may  have  the  privilege  of  carrying  them  out.  These 
broken  purposes,  which  are  entirely  good,  are  the  hardest 
to  understand  of  all.  A  Christian  labourer  is  sometimes 
called  to  leave  a  harvest  field,  and  lie  aside  useless,  with 
his  life's  strength  ebbing  away  and  his  life's  purposes 
disappointed.  But  God  does  not  leave  us  altogether 
without  answer.  He  has  hinted  at  a  higher  service  for 
which  He  wrants  these  faithful  ones. 

IV.  They  are  broken  off  because  God  has  other  and 
higher  purposes  for  us.  God  disappoints  us  that  He  may 
more  blessedly  fulfil.  It  is  well  they  should  be,  that  so 
our  lives  may  be  fashioned  according  to  a  higher  purpose, 
purpose  which  is  never  broken. 

J.  G.  G. 


LII.     Prophecy  of   Christ.     Job  xix.  25,  26.     " I  know 

that  my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  that  He  shall  stand  at  the  latter 
day  upon  the  earth  .-  and  though  after  my  skin,  worms  destroy 
this  body,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I see  God" 

IN  these  remarkable  words  the  patriarch  Job  is  speaking 
of  the  Resurrection.     Although  we  are  unable  to  assign  to 


96  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

with  historical  certainty  the  precise  period  at  which  Job 
lived,  there  is  strong  reason  for  concluding  that  he  was 
contemporary  with  Moses.  He  was  not  a  Hebrew,  but  a 
Gentile.  He  was  "  a  perfect  and  an  upright  man,"  and  one 
that  "feared  God  and  eschewed  evil."  He  was  thus  like 
Melchisedec,  a  representative  of  the  pure  religion  of  the 
primitive  ages  of  the  world. 

The  patriarch  is  here  comforting  himself  with  the  hope 
of  the  Resurrection  and  of  the  life  of  the  world  to  come. 
In  an  earlier  part  of  this  Book  he  seems  anxiously  to 
inquire  into  the  possibility  of  a  man's  living  again.  "  If  a 
man  die  shall  he  live  again  ?  "  But  here,  in  this  passage, 
all  doubt  vanishes.  After  a  severe  struggle  of  anguish  and 
agony,  he  arose  from  his  deep  dejection,  and  poured  forth 
these  magnificent  words,  words  of  which  he  may  not  him- 
self have  then  seen  all  the  significance  and  force.  Far 
across  the  space  of  fifteen  centuries  this  prophecy  reaches 
to  our  Lord's  empty  tomb,  and  onwards  to  the  resurrection 
of  all  men  at  the  last  great  day.  Translators  have  had 
many  difficulties  to  contend  with  in  giving  the  full  meaning 
of  this  passage.  But  translate  it  as  you  will,  no  antiquity 
about  this  or  that  phrase  can  obliterate  from  it  the  doctrine 
of  the  Resurrection  and  that  doctrine  as  connected  with 
Christ  Jesus. 

I.  "  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth."  That  is,  I  Job, 
who  am  thus  grievously  afflicted,  I  am  fully  persuaded 
that  my  Redeemer  is  living.  The  Lord  Jesus  is  a  living 
Person,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever.  The 
word  Goel  here  translated  Redeemer,  means  one  next  of 
kin.  And  so  Christ  is  our  true  Goel,  having  made  Himself 
next  of  kin  to  us  all  by  taking  our  nature  upon  Him,  and 
has  redeemed  us  from  the  captivity  of  sin  and  Satan. 

II.  The  body  is  to  return  to  its  dust.  None,  not  even 
the  saints  of  God,  are  exempt  from  this  universal  sentence 
of  dissolution.  Every  living  thing  that  now  moves  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  will  disappear  from  it.  This  scene  of  life 
and  thought  and  intelligence  will  be  changed  into  the  dark 
and  dismal  forms  of  corruption,  and  others  will  occupy 
our  places.  And  is  this,  then,  the  end  of  all  things  ?  "  Yet 
in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God." 

III.  The  Resurrection  of  the  flesh.  Beyond  question  it 
is  a  great  demand  upon  our  faith  to  believe  that  the  body, 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  97 

which  has  been  resolved  into  its  elementary  particles,  can 
again  be  compounded  into  bone  and  sinew  and  flesh. 

But  even  reason  may  help  us  to  accept  this  truth,  and 
so  become,  as  it  were,  a  handmaid  to  faith.  Does  not 
Nature  continually  preach  to  us  of  the  Resurrection  ? 
What  are  the  alternations  of  day  and  night  but  images 
of  the  Resurrection  ?  And  does  not  the  succession  of  the 
seasons  tell  of  the  same  thing  ? 

But  since  the  faculty  of  reason  is  apt  to  grow  dull  within 
us,  therefore  has  Christ  given  us  the  example  of  a  Resur- 
rection to  raise  our  drooping  faith,  and  to  proclaim  to  us, 
as  we  stand  wondering  at  the  empty  sepulchre,  that  as  He 
rose  from  the  dead,  so  has  His  resurrection  a  commanding 
power  to  raise  us  from  the  dead,  and  that  we  in  our  flesh 
shall  see  God. 

Now  if  this  be  indeed  true,  that  we  shall  appear,  in  these 
very  bodies,  before  the  Judgment  throne,  how  careful 
ought  we  to  be  lest  we  dishonour  our  bodies  by  making 
them  the  instruments  of  sin.  Let  us  respect  our  bodies  as 
the  temples  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  vouchsafes  to  dwell. 
The  body  which  has  had  its  part  to  fulfil  on  earth  has  no 
less  than  the  soul  its  position  to  fill  throughout  eternity. 
Let  us  strive  in  the  power  of  the  risen  Lord  to  live  the 
resurrection  life. 

"  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth."  Oh,  precious  promise, 
imperishable  assurance!  The  sinner's  hope,  the  believer's 
strength,  our  guide  in  life,  our  confidence  in  death  !  Are 
we  in  heaviness  through  the  remembrance  of  past  sin, 
or  the  power  of  present  temptations  ?  I  know  that  my 
Redeemer,  my  God,  my  Kinsman  liveth. 

Are  friends  taken  from  us  by  death  ?  These  are  amongst 
the  first  words  with  which  our  Church  cheers  us  when  we 
come  to  consign  them  to  the  dust.  And  when  our  last 
hour  comes  may  we,  one  and  all,  be  able  to  claim  this 
promise,  and  die  with  the  humble  hope  of  its  fulfilment  to 
ourselves. 

E.  B. 

LIII.     Acquaintance   with    God.     Job  xxii.  21.    "Ac- 
quaint noiu  thyself  with  Him,  and  be  at  peace" 

THERE  are  three  steps  of  knowledge  ;  first,  the  knowledge 
of  things  outside  of  us  ;  second,  the  knowledge  of  what  is 

H 


98  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

inside  us,  the  knowledge  of  our  own  hearts  ;  and  third,  the 
knowledge  of  God.  There  is  only  one  knowledge  which 
ever  gives  or  can  give  true  happiness.  Some,  knowing 
themselves,  are  seeking  happiness  altogether  independent 
of  God,  and  they  would  escape  from  themselves  every  day 
into  excitement.  Some  are  seeking  true  peace,  but  they 
look  for  the  evidences  of  that  peace  in  something  which 
they  are  and  not  what  God  is.  Some  seek  their  evidences 
in  God,  but  not  in  the  God  of  revelation — in  a  God  of 
their  own  fancy,  a  God  they  mistake  and  misrepresent. 
To  all  of  them  the  one  remedy  lies  in  the  command, 
"Acquaint  now  thyself  with  Him,  and  be  at  peace." 
Fulfil  this  condition  and  the  result  is  sure.  The  great 
question  now  comes,  Who  can  acquaint  himself  with  God  ? 
How  can  a  man  know  God  ?  It  can  only  be  a  distant 
approximation  after  all,  for  no  man  knows  God  as  He  is 
in  Himself.  But  standing  in  the  hollow  of  the  rock  we 
may  try  to  catch  the  glimpses  of  His  passing.  We  put 
aside  the  teachings  of  nature.  No  man  can  "  acquaint 
himself  with  God  "  in  that  book. 

(i)  He  who  has  the  Holy  Ghost  knows  God.  Only 
God's  mind  can  know  God.  The  Holy  Ghost  is  the  mind 
of  God  ;  therefore,  if  we  have  the  Holy  Ghost  we  have 
the  mind  of  God,  and  so  can  know  Him.  The  Holy  Ghost 
is  a  promised  gift,  and  whoever  truly  asks  for  it  shall 
have  it. 

(2)  The  Spirit's  book  must  be  read.  If  you  would  know 
God  you  must  study  Him  in  the  Bible,  in  the  person,  and 
the  character  and  life  and  work  of  His  Son. 

(3)  The  Son  represents  and  declares  the  invisible  Father. 
"  No  man  knoweth  the  Father  but  the  Son,  and  he  to 
whom  the  Son  shall  reveal  Him." 

The  Son  will  lead  you  along  to  this  great  end  in  His 
own  school  of  discipline  and  love.  He  will  afflict  you,  He 
will  strip  you,  He  will  make  you  feel  poor  and  solitary,  He 
will  take  you  into  a  wilderness,  and  there  in  your  sense  of 
nothingness  He  will  betroth  you  to  Himself,  and  "  thou 
shalt  know  the  Lord." 

And  great  peace  follows.  When  "your  righteousness  is 
as  the  waves  of  the  sea,"  well  then  "  may  your  peace  flow 
like  a  river." 

J.V. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  99 


LIV.  The  Light  in  the  Clouds.  Job  xxxvii.  ax. 
"  And  now  men  see  not  the  bright  light  which  is  in  the  clouds  : 
but  the  wind passeth,  and  cleanselh  them." 

"Men  see  not  the  bright  light  which  is  in  the  clouds." 
The  light  is  there  but  not  always  visible,  and  we  know  of 
the  actual  existence  of  the  light  which  the  cloud  only  par- 
tially conceals  from  us.  And  from  time  to  time,  God  in 
His  infinite  providence  and  love,  sends  the  wind  and  sweeps 
away  the  clouds,  and  brings  gladness  and  brightness  to  our 
vision.  This  Word  is  an  inexhaustible  jewel-bed,  and  one 
of  the  gems  of  purest  ray  is  this  text,  which  will  show  a 
light  to  many  a  one  in  the  dark  hours  of  bereavement  and 
affliction. 

I.  We  live  on  the  unilluminated  side  of  the  cloud.  Only 
needful  rays  shine  through,  and  yet  the  rays  are  quite  suf- 
ficient for  our  guidance.  We  cannot  understand  the  fulness 
of  God's  being,  nor  how  three  persons  can  exist  in  on- 
Godhead  ;  it  is  quite  enough  that  it  is  the  fact.  We  cannot 
understand  many  of  the  mysteries  connected  with  the 
Divine  plan  of  redemption,  but  that  matters  little,  as  lono- 
as  we  know  that  God  so  loved  us  that  He  sent  His  only 
Son  to  die  for  us.  We  have  sufficient  truth  shining  through 
the  cloud  for  us  to  walk  in  the  paths  of  obedience,  waiting 
for  the  time  when  we  shall  get  above  the  cloud  and  behind 
the  cloud  into  the  overwhelming  glory  there. 

II.  The  Infinite  light  behind  the  cloud  is  Infinite  love. 
That  cloud  is  love,  for  God  means  every  adversity  for  our 
good,  and  every  trial  to  work  out  "  an  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory."  Perhaps  thine  eye  has  been  blind 
to  the  beauty  of  Jesus,  and  thine  ear  has  been  deaf  to  the  , 
voice  of  His  love.  God  may  touch  thee  on  the  tenderest 
spot,  that  thou  mayest  be  brought  with  the  touch  that 
brings  tears  and  blood,  to  that  very  Saviour  whom  thou 
wouldst  not  see  or  hear  in  all  the  time  gone  by  His  word 
is  full  of  illustrations  of  this. 

m  Suffering  has  many  compensations;  not  only  in  its 
influence  upon  the  sufferer  in  humbling  him,  bringing  him 
into  a  sense  of  dependence,  inspiring  in  him  a  spirit  of 
prayer,  quickening  his  faith  and  working  out  the  principles 
ot  righteousness,  but  it  has  its  happy  influence  upon  others. 

III.  The  future  will  clear  up  all   mysteries.     We  often 


ioo  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

grow  so  inquisitive  to  know  what  the  reasons  of  dark  things 
and  trials  are.  By-and-by  shall  come  the  last  great  day  of 
revelation,  and  all  clouds  shall  be  cleared  away.  Let  us 
note  some  lessons  : 

(i)  Remember  that  God  is  often  inscrutable,  never  wrong. 

(2)  On  this  side  of  the  cloud  we  have  nothing  to  do  but 
to  receive  the  truth  that  comes  through,  and  walk  by  it. 

(3)  Never  get  frightened  at  God's  clouds. 

(4)  Clouds  of  trial  often  rain  down  truth,  as  the  dark 
clouds  in  the  heavens  rain  down  showers  on  the  thirsty  field. 
The  Gospel  comes  to  each  of  us,  and  offers  to  us  Christ 
and  with  Him  light  for  every  dark  hour,  strength  for  every 
trial,  pardon  for  every  sin,  guidance  for  every  footstep. 
He  alone  can  illuminate  the  darkness  of  the  soul,  and  alone 
turn  even  clouds  of  trial  into  harbingers  of  everlasting 
blessing  and  glory. 

T.  L.  C. 

LV.      Christian  Development.      Ps.  i.   3.      " And  he 

shall  be  like   a   tree   planted  by  the  rivers   of  water,  that 
bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his  season." 

THIS  reference  to  the  tree  as  the  image  of  a  good  man's 
life,  this  garden  which  is  thus  summoned  up  before  our 
minds,  harmonizes  with  almost  all  the  early,  and  certainly 
with  the  closing,  scenes  in  our  Bibles.  Adam's  unfallen  life 
was  passed  in  a  garden  watered  by  four  rivers  ;  and  the 
kingdom  of  the  blessed  in  the  Apocalypse  is  represented  as 
watered  by  the  pure  river  of  the  water  of  life. 

It  is  significant  that  the  image  which  is  chosen  is  not  a 
tree  of  the  forest,  untended  by  man,  but  that  it  is  a  tree 
specifically  planted  by  the  waterside.  This  is  to  be  noted 
because  this  image  of  the  tree  of  nature  has  been  freely 
used  by  a  school  of  thinkers  as  against  any  doctrine  of 
human  education  whatever.  "  Man  is  a  tree.  Let  him 
throw  out  his  branches  freely."  But  man  is  not  a  tree, 
and  is  only  like  a  tree  in  some  respects  which  were  in  the 
psalmist's  mind  when  he  used  the  image.  Man  has  intel- 
ligence which  requires  to  be  developed.  He  has  moral 
freedom  which  requires  to  be  developed.  Once  more,  he 
is  a  depraved  being,  and  if  left  to  himself,  he  will  only  grow 
in  depravity.    Man  educated  is  a  greater,  nobler  being  than 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  ioi 

savage  man.  When  Christianity  is  the  educator,  the  differ- 
ence is  vital.  It  is  the  difference  between  light  and  dark- 
ness, between  life  and  death.  The  first  point  of  similarity 
between  spiritual  and  vegetable  life  is  that  each  is  gradual ; 
and  secondly,  that  each  is  mysterious.  So  we  may  say  that 
as  a  tree  requires  soil,  sunlight,  and  moisture  for  its  proper 
growth,  so  the  human  soul  requires  certain  conditions, 
without  which  growth  and  development  are  impossible. 
These  conditions  are  : — 

(i)  The  life  of  the  soul  must  be  based  upon  principles. 
They  are  the  very  soil  of  the  soul.  They  are  the  basis  of 
truth  on  which  the  understanding  must  lean. 

(2)  Christianity  must  expand.  As  it  is  based  upon  prin- 
ciples, so  must  it  expand  by  love.  Beauty  attracts  love, 
and  God  has  provided  for  this  side  of  human  education. 
He  has  revealed  Himself  in  His  blessed  Son,  whom  the 
prophets  saluted  before  his  Incarnation  as  fairer  than  the 
children  of  men.  A  personal  love  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  the 
central  element  of  Christian  character. 

(3)  The  will  must  be  disciplined.  The  will  is  the 
summit  of  the  character,  just  as  the  heart  is  at  its  centre,* 
as  the  understanding  is  at  its  base.  Undoubtedly  it  is  the 
Christian  who  can  say,  not  in  his  own  strength,  but  by  the 
grace  of  God,  "  I  will."  The  will  is  strengthened  by  obe- 
dience. God  in  His  mercy  does  not  leave  the  formation 
of  the  will  to  us.  He  takes  us  in  His  own  hand,  He  disci- 
plines us  ;  He  gives  us  trials.  But  the  time  comes  at  last 
when  we  have  mastered  that  hardest  lesson  of  the  human 
heart,  when  we  can  say  with  truth,  "  Not  my  will,  but 
Thine  be  done." 

H.  P.  L. 

LVI.  What  is  Man.  Vs.  viii.  4.  "What  is  man,  that 
Thou  art  mindful  of  him,  and  the  son  of  man  that  Thou  visitest 
him  ?  " 

In  this  psalm  David  gives  expression  to  that  sense  of  awe 
and  wonder  which  is  due  to  the  beauty  and  the  mystery  of 
the  natural  world.  For  David,  nature  is  not  a  half  personi- 
fied deity,  still  less  a  wall  of  adamant  which  marks  the 
boundary  of  human  knowledge  and  human  hopes.  For 
David,  nature  is  first  the  handiwork,  and  then  the  robe  of 


102  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

God.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  shows  that  there  is  a 
great  deal  more  in  this  psalm  than  lies  on  the  surface. 
What  David  says  here  of  the  race,  applies  to  the  one 
worthy  representative  of  the  race,  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  thus 
the  psalm  forms  a  hymn  of  Christian  praise  addressed  to 
the  glorified  Redeemer.  We  may  dwell  with  advantage 
upon  the  original  sense  of  the  psalm  as  referring  to  the 
race,  and  ask,  "  What  is  man,  that  Thou  art  mindful  of 
him  ?  " 

I.  He  is  an  animal.  He  is,  in  the  complexity  of  his 
nature,  a  complete  recapitulation  of  all  the  lower  forms  of 
animal  existence. 

II.  He  is  a  spirit.  Not  merely  a  life  principle,  which 
sustains  and  invigorates  the  bodily  frame.  Every  animal 
is  or  has  such  a  spirit  as  that.  When  man  dies  his  spirit 
does  not  fade  away  into  non-existence.  It  returns  to  the 
God  who  gave  it.  This  belief  has  been  described  as  a 
conceit  on  the  part  of  man.  Is  it  a  vain  assumption  ? 
There  are  many  replies  to  the  question,  but  one  will  suffice 
here.  A  mere  animal  has  no  idea  of  progress — of  improve- 
ment. There  is  no  evidence  of  any  effort  on  the  part  of 
any  race  of  animals  to  raise  itself;  whereas  man,  even 
when  least  successful,  is  never  wholly  without  the  aspiration 
towards  better  things.  Man's  spirit  is  the  secret  of  man's 
royalty  in  nature.  Man  is  king  of  the  creatures,  because 
in  his  inmost  seat  of  life  he  is  distinct  from  them. 

III.  He  is  a  fallen  being.  Experience  may  teach  any 
man  that  in  his  darkened  understanding,  in  his  weakened 
will,  in  the  tyranny  of  sense  over  thought,  of  the  body 
over  the  soul,  he  finds  traces  of  the  fall.  And  yet  "  Thou 
art  mindful  of  him."  God's  care  for  man  follows  the  order 
of  man's  being  and  needs.  And  therefore  we  bless  Him 
"  for  our  creation,  preservation,  and  all  the  blessings  of  this 
life,  but  above  all  for  His  inestimable  love  in  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  world  through  our  Lord  Jesus." 

H.  P.  L. 


LVII.  Help  from  the  Sanctuary.  Ps.  xx,  2.  "The 
Lord  hear  thee  in  the  day  of  trouble :  send  thee  help  from  the 
sanctuary,  and  strengthen  thee  out  of  Zion." 

We  all  need  help.     The  burden  of  life  presses  heavily  upon 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  103 

us,  and  we  feel  in  our  inmost  souls  that  we  are  insufficient 
for  these  things.  We  know  that  our  help  must  ultimately 
come  from  God.  The  unstudied  exclamation,  "  God  help 
me,"  is  often  wrung  from  lips  that  would  scoff  at  formal 
prayer. 

The  Christian  delights  to  acknowledge  and  feel  God  to 
be  helper  at  all  times.  God  sends  us  help  through  His 
words,  through  His  providence,  and  especially  through  our 
fellow-creatures. 

The  text  does  not  ignore,  but  embraces  these  channels 
of  Divine  help  in  a  larger  generalization  when  it  says,  "  The 
Lord  send  thee  help  from  the  sanctuary." 

I.  God  sends  help  from  the  sanctuary  through  the 
influence  of  the  Church  and  its  ordinances  upon  all  our 
domestic  relations. 

How  bright  is  the  family  life  which  is  pervaded  from 
centre  to  circumference  by  the  influence  of  God's  house 
and  its  holy  ordinances  !  What  can  bind  the  hearts  of 
husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  brother  and  sister, 
together  in  bonds  so  tender  and  yet  so  strong  as  the  bonds 
of  the  sanctuary  ?  How  could  we  bear  our  household 
griefs  but  for  the  help  God  sends  us  from  the  sanctuary? 

II.  God  sends  us  help  from  the  sanctuary  through  the 
power  of  the  ordinances  upon  our  own  religious  life.  It  is 
chiefly  through  the  public  means  of  grace  that  men  are 
converted  to  God,  and  helped  forward  in  their  Christian 
course.  It  pleased  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to 
save  them  that  believe.  The  happiest  and  the  strongest 
Christians,  and  they  whose  life  is  most  helpful  in  comfort- 
ing others,  are  they  whose  character  from  youth  to  old  age 
is  moulded  by  the  hearing  of  the  Gospel,  and  fitted  for 
heaven  by  familiarity  with  God's  sanctuary  on  earth. 

III.  God  sends  help  through  the  communion  of  saints, 
of  which  the  sanctuary  and  its  ordinances  are  the  visible 
symbols. 

A  particular  Church  of  Christ  is  a  body  of  believers, 
with  their  children,  covenanted  together  for  the  worship  of 
God,  for  communion  in  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  and 
for  mutual  helpfulness  in  the  Christian  life.  Membership 
in  such  an  association  involves  many  and  solemn  obliga- 
tions. The  communion  of  saints  is  more  and  better  than 
"  the  fellowship  of  kindred  minds."     It  is  an  actual  partici- 


io4  OUTLINES   ON  THE 


pation  in  Christ  and  the  benefits  of  His  redemption,  and 
in  those  personal  possessions  which  Christian  love  for 
Christ's  sake  "  parts  to  all  as  every  man  has  need." 

To  communicate  is  to  commune,  and  to  do  good  is  to 
communicate.  The  apostles  use  the  same  word  to  describe 
our  participation  in  the  Lord's  Supper  and  the  sharing  of 
our  worldly  goods  with  the  brethren  of  Christ.  They  are 
both  a  communion.  The  communion  of  saints  is  a  blessed 
reality,  even  though  we  are  not  embraced  in  its  helping 
arms.  The  sap  of  the  vine  does  not  penetrate  the  dead 
branches.  There  is  a  divine  life  in  the  body  of  Christ 
which  pervades  all  its  true  members. 

We  must  give  as  well  as  receive,  and  count  it  "  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  It  is  by  that  which  every 
joint  supplieth  the  whole  body  maketh  increase,  to  the 
edifying  of  itself  in  love.  They  who  complain  most  of  the 
coldness  of  the  Church  generally  contribute  least  to  make 
it  warm  ;  and  they  who  grudge  the  cost  of  the  spikenard, 
have  little  enjoyment  of  it  when  the  house  is  filled  with  the 
odour  of  the  ointment.  They  who  strive  most  to  be  helpful 
to  others  will  receive  most  help  themselves.  Some  there 
are  who  know  this  by  a  blessed  experience.  They  find 
comfort  for  their  own  souls  by  comforting  others.  To 
them  God's  house  is  indeed  a  sanctuary — a  refuge — a  source 
of  strength  to  do  and  to  suffer  the  Divine  will.  The 
sanctuary  is  to  them  the  type  and  the  foretaste  of  heaven. 
"  They  shall  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  for  ever." 

W.  M.  T. 

LVIII.    The  Solitude  of  Christ  in  Redemption. 

Ps.  xxii.  ii.     "Be  not  far  from  me,  for  trouble  is  near,  for 
there  is  7ione  to  help." 

THIS  is  one  of  the  cries  of  the  ideal  or  superhuman 
sufferer,  of  whose  agonies,  both  of  mind  and  body,  we  have 
so  complete  a  picture  in  this  psalm.  The  words  were 
David's,  but  the  thoughts,  hopes,  fears,  anguish  and  exulta- 
tion were  of  another  and  a  higher  than  David.  In  this 
psalm  there  is  one  feature  of  our  Lord's  sufferings  upon 
which  special  stress  is  laid,  namely,  His  desolation  or  soli- 
tude. It  is  the  keynote  of  the  psalm,  and  nowhere  finds 
more  pathetic  expression   than   in  the  words  of  our  text. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  105 

In  His  sufferings  Jesus  was  alone — alone  in  spirit  though 
encompassed  by  a  multitude.  In  His  passion  Jesus  ex- 
perienced a  threefold  solitude. 

I.  The  solitude  of  greatness.  The  loneliness  of  the  great 
is  one  of  the  ironies  of  human  life.  They  are  lonely 
because  they  are  great  ;  because,  had  they  peers  and 
companions  they  would  cease  to  be  what  they  are,  at  least 
in  relation  to  those  around  them.  The  solitude  of  the 
throne  is  proverbial.  Again,  genius  is  by  its  instinct  soli- 
tary. The  mountain  peaks,  which  are  the  crowning  beauty 
of  a  vast  and  fertile  plain,  purchase  their  prerogative  ele- 
vation at  a  great  cost.  They  are  cold,  bleak,  inaccessible. 
Again,  true  greatness  of  character  is  in  the  main  solitary. 
The  unswerving  adherence  to  truth,  the  resolute  sacrifice 
of  immediate  advantage  to  the  claims  of  principle  are  not 
popular  qualities.  Our  Lord  in  His  passion  was  great  in 
these  various  ways.  He  felt  the  isolation  of  royalty.  He 
lived  in  a  sphere  of  thought  which  was  impossible  for  those 
around,  and  He  was  sinless. 

II.  The  solitude  of  sorrow.  Though  sorrow  is  universal, 
no  two  human  beings  suffer  exactly  alike ;  each  sufferer, 
whether  of  bodily  or  of  mental  pain,  pursues  a  separate 
path,  encounters  peculiar  difficulties,  shares  a  common 
burden,  but  is  alone  in  his  sorrow.  Especially  was  Jesus 
solitary  in  His  awful  sorrow.  His  bodily  sufferings  were 
less  terrible  than  the  sufferings  of  His  mind.  "He  bore 
our  sins  in  His  own  body  on  the  tree."  But  the  touch  of 
this  burden,  which  to  us  is  so  familiar,  was  agony  to  Him. 
It  drew  from  Him  the  bloody  sweat  of  Gethsemane. 

III.  The  solitude  of  death.  Death  strips  from  a  man 
all  that  connects  him  with  that  which  is  without  him. 
Jesus  willed  to  share  the  misery  of  the  souls  who  cry  in 
their  last  moments,  "  My  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken 
me?" 

H.  P.  L. 

LIX.  Seeking  the  Face  of  God.  Ps.  xxvii.  8,  9. 
"  When  Thou  saidst,  Seek  ye  My  face;  my  heart  said  unto 
Thee,  Thy  face,  Lord  will  1  seek.  Hide  not  Thy  face  from 
me." 

There  appears  to  be  a  good  deal  of  autobiography  in  this 


106  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

psalm.  The  writer,  whom  we  take  to  be  David,  travels 
back  in  thought  to  the  past  of  his  life,  and  his  backward 
glance  fixes  on  two  distinct  objects.  At  one  time  he  thinks 
of  the  past  as  God's  past,  all  illumined  by  the  radiance 
of  His  favour,  and  helped  by  the  might  of  His  imparted 
strength  ;  at  another  he  thinks  of  it  as  his  own  past,  where- 
in he  strove  to  love  and  serve  his  Keeper,  God  ;  and  from 
both  these  aspects  of  the  days  that  are  gone  he  draws  en- 
couragement to  hope  that  God  will  be  the  same,  and  resolves" 
that  he  will  continue  the  habit  of  trust  and  obedience. 
Here,  in  the  words  of  the  text,  these  two  ways  of  looking 
at  the  past  are  woven  into  one  strong  cord,  that  the 
psalmist  may  hang  his  confidence  and  his  prayers  thereon. 

I.  There  is  here  God's  voice  to  the  heart.  We  have  here, 
as  it  were,  summed  up  in  a  kind  of  dialogue  of  two  phrases, 
the  whole  speech  of  God  to  us  men,  and  the  inmost  mean- 
ing of  all  that  devout  souls  say  to  God.  "  Seek  ye  My 
face."  Such  is  the  essential  meaning  of  all  God's  words 
and  works.  "  Thy  face,  Lord,  will  I  seek."  Such  is  the 
essential  meaning  of  all  prayer,  worship  and  obedience. 

What  is  the  significance  of  that  expression,  "  the  face  of 
God  ? "  It  is  one  of  those  strong  Scripture  phrases  which 
escape  any  danger  of  misconstruction  by  the  very  boldness 
of  their  corporeal  metaphors.  The  God  whom  men  need 
and  can  know  and  love,  the  God  who  is  a  Spirit,  comes 
near  to  us  in  descriptions  cast  in  the  mould  of  humanity, 
and  loses  none  of  His  purely  spiritual  essence,  nor  any  of 
His  infinitude,  because  we  have  learned  to  speak  of  the  eye 
and  arm  and  the  hand  and  the  heart  and  the  face  of  the 
Lord.  The  eye  of  the  Lord  is  His  all-seeing  knowledge  ; 
the  arm  and  the  hand  of  the  Lord  are  substantially  the 
same,  and  may  be  said  to  express  the  active  energy  of  the 
Divine  nature.  The  face  of  the  Lord  is  that  aspect  or  side 
of  the  Divine  nature  which  is  turned  to  man,  and  is  per- 
ceptible by  him.  It  is  almost  equivalent  to  "  the  name  of 
the  Lord,"  which  means  the  manifested  character  of  God, 
the  net  result  of  all  His  self-revelation  by  word  and  work. 
Another  idea  is  usually  connected  with  the  expression — 
that  of  light.  "  Lift  Thou  up  the  light  of  Thy  countenance 
upon  us."  The  two  ideas  of  the  sun  rising  on  an  else  dark 
world,  and  the  rising  of  the  Divine  countenance  on  else 
dark  and  wintry  hearts,  are  here  paralleled.    To  seek  God's 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  107 

face  is  no  long,  dubious  search,  nor  is  He  hard  to  be  found. 
We  have  only  to  desire  to  possess,  and  to  act  in  harmony 
with  the  desire,  and  we  shall  walk  all  the  day  in  the  light 
of  His  countenance. 

Endeavour  to  keep  vivid  the  consciousness  of  that  Face 
as  looking  always  in  on  you,  like  the  solemn  frescoes  of  the 
Christ  which  Angelico  painted  on  the  walls  of  his  convent 
cells,  that  each  poor  brother  might  feel  his  Master  ever  with 
him.  Scrupulously  avoid  whatever  might  dim  the  vision 
of  His  face. 

If  this  be  the  meaning  of  seeking  God's  face,  then  note 
that  this  invitation  is  God's  merciful  voice  to  us.  By  the 
very  make  of  our  spirits,  which  bear  on  them  alike  in  their 
weakness  and  their  strength  the  sign  that  they  are  His, 
and  can  only  be  at  rest  in  Him,  He  savs,  "  Seek  ye  My 
face." 

By  all  His  providences  of  joy  or  sorrow,  and  the  alterna- 
tions which  "toss  us  to  His  breast,"  He  says,  "  Seek  ye  My 
face." 

And  most  of  all  in  Jesus,  the  true  "angel  of  His  face," 
in  whom  all  the  lustre  of  His  radiance  is  gathered,  does  He 
beckon  us  to  Himself. 

II.  We  have  here  the  heart's  echo  to  the  voice  of  God. 
Swift  and  immediate,  as  the  thunder  to  the  lightning,  the 
answer  follows  the  invitation.  If  the  resolve  to  seek  God's 
face  be  not  made  by  us  at  the  very  moment  when  we  be- 
come aware  of  His  loving  call,  it  is  very  unlikely  to  be  made 
at  all.  The  first  notes  of  that  low  voice  fall  on  the  ear  with 
more  persuasive  power  than  they  retain  after  it  has  become 
familiar  with  them,  even  as  the  first-heard  song  of  the 
thrush  in  spring-time  that  breaks  the  long  wintry  silence 
has  a  sweetness  all  its  own.  It  is  always  dangerous  to 
delay  for  one  moment  the  uprising  of  the  heart  in  any 
resolution  which  we  know  to  be  right. 

There  is  also  brought  out  here  the  complete  correspond- 
ence between  the  Divine  command  and  the  devout  man's 
resolve.  Word  for  word  the  invitation  is  repeated  in  the 
answer.  This  man's  obedience  is  no  partial  obedience. 
"  Seek,  and  ye  shall  find,"  is  ever  true,  thank  God  ;  but  it 
must  be  a  whole-hearted  seeking,  and  not  the  feeble, 
flickering  desire  and  the  listless  action  which  mark  so  many 
of  us. 


io8  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

Note,  too,  the  firm  and  decisive  resolution  shining 
through  the  brevity  of  the  words.  If  we  are  quite  resolved 
that  our  life's  business  is  to  be  seeking  God's  face,  we  shall, 
for  the  most  part,  say  little  about  it. 

Further,  we  have  in  this  heart's  echo  to  the  voice  of  God 
the  conversion  of  a  general  invitation  into  a  personal  reso- 
lution. The  call  is  "  Seek  ye  ;  "  the  answer  is  "  I  will  seek." 
That  is  what  we  have  all  to  do  with  God's  words.  He.sovvs 
His  invitations  broadcast  ;  we  have  to  make  them  our  own. 
He  sends  out  His  mercy  for  a  world  ;  we  have  to  claim 
each  our  portion.  Nothing  in  all  the  world  is  so  blessed 
as  to  hear  that  wonderful  beseeching  call  sounding  in  every 
providence,  travelling  to  us  from  every  corner  of  the  uni- 
verse, speaking  to  us  in  the  light  of  setting  suns  and  in  the 
hush  of  midnight  skies,  sounding  in  the  bound  of  waves  on 
the  beach  and  in  the  rustle  of  leaves  in  the  forest  depths, 
whispering  to  us  in  the  depths  of  our  own  hearts  and  woo- 
ing us  by  all  things  to  our  rest.  That  is  heaven  on  earth, 
nobleness,  peace  and  power,  to  stand  as  at  the  point  of 
some  great  ellipse  to  which  converge  from  all  sides  the 
music  of  God's  manifold  invitations,  and  listening  to  them, 
to  say,  I  hear,  and  I  obey.  Thou  dost  call,  and  I  answer, 
Lo  !  here  am  I. 

III.  There  is  here  the  heart's  cry  to  God  founded  on 
both  the  Divine  voice  and  the  human  echo.  "  Hide  not 
Thy  face  from  me "  is  clearly  a  prayer  built  upon  both 
these  elements  in  the  past.  God's  invitation  and  my 
acceptance  of  it  both  give  me  the  right  to  pray  thus,  and 
are  pledges  of  the  answer. 

As  to  the  former,  "Thou  saidst,  Seek  ye  my  face."  "  Hide 
not  Thy  face  from  me  "  is  but  the  vivid  way  of  putting  the 
thought  that  God  cannot  contradict  Himself. 

As  to  the  second  ground  of  this  prayer,  it  rests  on  my 
part  as  well  as  on  God's.  It  is  the  confidence  that  because 
we  seek  we  shall  find.  He  fills  the  vessels  we  bring,  be 
they  large  or  small.  My  feeblest  desire  brings  answers 
correspondent  to  its  strength  and  purity. 

Seek  His  face  evermore,  and  your  life  will  be  bright  be- 
cause you  will  walk  in  the  light  of  His  countenance  always. 
That  face  will  brighten  the  darkness  of  death  ;  and  when 
you  reach  the  land  beyond  you,  you  will  enter  it  with  the 
wonderful  hope  on  your  lips,  "  As  for  me,  I   shall  behold 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  109 

Thy  face  in  righteousness,"  and  heaven's  heaven  will  be  that 
"  His  servants  serve  Him,  and  see  His  face." 

A.  M. 


LX.     The     Fountain    of    Life.      Ps.  xxxvi.  9.     "  For 
with  Thee  is  the  fountain  of  life." 

This  is  a  grand  thought — "  fountain  of  life."     If  life  has  a 
"fountain,"  surely  we  should  stop  and  drink  at'it. 

I.  Let  us  ask  first,  What  is  life  ? 

(1)  Life  is  a  garden,  and  wants  its  refreshings.  Many 
feel  the  burden  of  life's  monotony.  What  we  all  want  is 
freshness.  Who  has  not  felt  the  tendency  of  the  highest 
duties  to  pass  into  mere  forms  ?  How  few  of  us  do  not 
find  our  prayers  stiffen  into  a  mere  mechanism  ?  And 
what  we  need  is  a  re-kindling  of  the  original  motive — a 
new  affection  to  make  an  old  thing  new.  Now  to  meet  all 
such  feelings  there  stands  a  fountain,  not  a  well,  always 
running,  always  sparkling.  "  The  fountain  of  life."  A  real 
act  of  communion  with  God  will  do  more  than  anything 
else  to  make  us  live  again.  Our  battles,  duties,  crosses, 
prayers,  feelings,  work,  and  soul  must  touch  Christ  ;  they 
must  take  more  of  Christ  into  them  ;  they  must  lie  under 
the  droppings  ;  they  must  bathe  themselves  in  Christ. 

(2)  Life  is  a  soiled  thing,  and  wants  cleansings.  There 
is  the  defilement  of  accumulating  sin.  It  is  a  solemn  thing 
to  think  of,  that  to  count  years  is  to  catalogue  transgressions. 
Throw  all  these  sins  into  this  fountain,  and  daily  come  with 
each  day's  sins  to  wash  and  be  clean. 

II.  What  is  the  "fountain  of  life?"  God  put  all  life 
into  His  Son,  and  that  life  which  is  in  Christ  is  the  real 
spring  and  essence  of  all  that  constitutes  true  human  life. 
The  life  that  is  treasured  up  in  Jesus  is  a  very  fountain, 
and  it  flows  freely.  If  you  are  not  drinking  in  life,  it  is 
not  because  that  fountain  is  sealed  to  you,  but  because 
your  heart  is  sealed  to  it. 

J.V. 


ho  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

LXI.  Unfailing  Hope.  Ps.  xlii.  n.  "  Why  art  thou  cast 
down,  O  my  soul  ?  and  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me  ? 
Hope  thou  in  God:  for  I  shall  yet  praise  Him,  who  is  the 
health  of  my  countenance,  and  my  God." 

In  every  sense  the  Christian  life  is  a  conflict,  and  our 
enemies  are  mostly  to  be  found  within  our  own  souls.  The 
psalmist  had  experience  of  this,  and  here  we  have  him 
remonstrating  with  himself. 

I.  The  state  of  mind  in  which  the  psalmist  was, — the 
soul  cast  down  and  disquieted  within  him. 

This  is  a  state  in  which  many  Christians  are  at  varied 
periods  in  their  earthly  experience.  Some  of  them  very 
much  more  than  others.  These  trials  spring  from  manifold 
sources  ;  sometimes  from  the  Christian  himself,  sometimes 
from  those  dear  to  him,  sometimes  from  his  mental  exer- 
cise of  trial,  when  he  is  ready  to  say,  "  Thy  waves  and  Thy 
billows  are  gone  over  me." 

II.  The  desirableness  of  the  investigation  the  psalmist 
instituted  when  he  said,  "  Why  art  thou  cast  down  ?  " 

It  is  very  often  for  want  of  asking  this  question  that 
Christians  continue  in  the  state  of  despondency.  There 
are  many  imaginary  trials  allowed  to  creep  into  the  soul, 
which  once  looked  at  in  the  face,  in  the  light  of  the  glory 
that  beams  from  another  world,  would  vanish  in  a  moment 
— like  mists  before  the  rising  sun.  This  enquiry  should  be 
made,  because  generally  it  would  be  found  that  in  the 
Divine  dealings  there  was  no  cause  whatever  for  the  soul 
to  be  cast  down.  There  is  not  a  moment  of  all  this 
experience  of  trial  but  shall  minister  to  the  need  that 
has  been  seen  in  the  soul's  condition.  The  answer  to  this 
enquiry  will  very  frequently  be  found  in  the  soul  itself. 
Prayer  may  have  been  neglected,  or  the  sanctuary  forsaken, 
or  the  Bible  may  remain  unread. 

III.  The  counsel  addressed  to  the  psalmist,  "  Hope  thou 
in  God."  There  is  the  remedy,  the  cure  for  the  soul. 
There  is  the  sunlight  for  its  darkness. 

And  then  aiter  this  sunlight  has  streamed  into  the  dark- 
ened spirit,  there  comes  the  song  of  praise.  "  I  shall  yet 
praise  Him,  who  is  the  health  of  my  countenance,  and  my 
God."  The  Christian  life  ought  to  be  a  life  of  praise. 
Praise  ought  to  grow  stronger  and  richer  every  mile  you 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  in 


pass  over  in  the  way  to  the  New   Jerusalem,  for  you  have 
so  much  the  more  mercy  in  the  past  to  inspire  it. 

J.  P.  C. 


LXII.  Hope  in  God.  Ps.  xliii.  5.  "  Why  art  thou  cast 
doiun,  O  my  soul  ?  and  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  vie  2 
hope  in  God:  for  I  shall  yet  praise  Him,  who  is  the  health  of 
my  countenance,  and  my  God." 

This  verse  forms  the  thrice-repeated  chorus  of  a  psalm 
which  some  consider  finer  than  any  other  in  the  psalter 
in  respect  of  imagery  and  structure.  The  forty-second  and 
forty-third  Psalms  originally  formed  a  single  poem,  con- 
sisting of  three  strophes,  each  of  which  closes  with  the 
slightly  varied  lines  of  the  text. 

The  writer  of  the  psalm,  whether  King,  or  more  prob- 
ably Levite,  is  in  exile.  He  is  dwelling  in  the  Hermons,  a 
mountain  ridge  to  the  east  of  Jordan,  and  among  men  of 
fierce  habits  and  alien  faith.  That  which  is  passing  within 
his  soul  seems  to  be  reflected  on  the  natural  scenes  around 
him.  He  marks  the  gazelle,  as  it  climbs  panting  up  the 
rocky  bed  of  some  ravine  in  search  of  water,  and  he  is  at 
once  reminded  of  his  own  unappeased  longing  for  that 
Being  who  alone  can  quench  the  thirst  of  man's  soul.  He 
is  overtaken  by  a  violent  storm,  and  the  thunder  and  rain 
only  remind  him  of  that  storm  of  secret  sorrow  which  is 
beating  on  his  soul,  and  as  thought  turns  back  to  bygone 
years,  he  remembers  how  at  the  three  great  festivals  thou- 
sands of  pilgrims  would  gather  at  the  sacred  city  ;  and 
how  he  himself  went  out  with  the  multitude  in  solemn 
procession,  and  brought  them  into  the  House  of  God  with 
the  voice  of  praise  and  thanksgiving.  How  can  he  but 
pray  that  the  light  and  truth  of  God  may  be  sent  forth  to 
lead  him  home,  that  he  may  spend  his  remaining  years  in 
thankful  praise. 

The  psalmibt  is  in  colloquy  with  himself;  he  is  at  once 
the  adviser  and  the  advised.  He  observes,  he  cross- 
questions,  he  rebukes,  he  counsels  his  own  soul. 

We  see  here  how  Holy  Scripture  addresses  itself  to  the 
darker  moods  of  the  human  soul,  that  it  may  help  us  to 
master  them,  or  to  turn  them  into  good  account.     There 


OUTLINES   ON  THE 


are  modern  poets  who  throw  themselves  into  the  gloomy 
thoughts  of  men,  only  to  give  them  more  exquisite  and 
luxurious  expression,  or  even  to  prolong  by  refining  with- 
out consecrating  them.  Not  so  the  Bible.  If  it  turns  the 
eye  upon  the  sadness  and  disquiet  of  the  soul  it  is  to  bid  it 
hope  in  God,  and  so  rise  into  joy  and  peace.  Melancholy 
is  not,  even  from  a  purely  natural  point  of  view,  strictly  in 
order.  There  is  something  in  this  which  proclaims  it  to  be 
an  intruder,  and  which  prompts  us  to  challenge  it,  and  to 
bid  it  give  an  account  of  itself. 

I.  The  psalmist's  question  is  always  a  very  practical  one 
for  a  large  number  of  human  beings  :  "  Why  art  thou  cast 
down  ? "  One  answer  to  this  question  would  be  sought 
in  physical  temperament.  We  may  have  a  constitutional 
tendency  to  depression,  but  we  can  give  way  to  it  until  it 
sways  irresistibly,  or  we  can  check  and  altogether  overcome 
it  by  cultivating  an  opposite  habit  of  mind.  He  who  made 
us  does  not  ask  at  our  hands  that  which  He  Himself  has 
made  it  impossible  that  we  could  give  Him.  We  have 
only  to  hope  in  Him  to  keep  His  way.  He  will  promote 
us  that  we  may  possess  the  land  of  joy,  whatever  may  be 
our  physical  temperament  at  the  outset  of  our  journey. 

II.  The  second  answer  to  this  question  is  furnished  by 
the  despairing  philosophy  of  life.  "  How,"  it  has  been  said, 
"  can  men  think  at  all  and  not  take  a  gloomy  view  of 
human  existence  ? "  It  is  the  thought  of  God,  and  all  that 
that  thought  implies,  which  makes  life  tolerable.  To  live 
beneath  the  smile  of  the  Heavenly  Father  is  indeed  to 
understand  the  worth  of  life,  and  the  worth  of  those 
theories  which  disparage  it. 

III.  There  are  other  answers  to  the  psalmist's  question. 
There  is  temporal  misfortune.  The  troubles  of  life  do 
weigh  the  soul  down.  The  rule  is  that  trouble  does  crush 
men  unless  men  can  lay  strong  hold  on  One  who  transcends 
human  life  and  its  vicissitudes. 

IV.  More  depressing  still  is  spiritual  trouble,  when  God's 
face  is  hidden  from  the  soul.  The  temptations  of  such  a 
time  are  obvious.  Many  a  man  will  say  to  himself  that 
his  religion,  after  all,  was  but  a  passing  phase  of  feeling. 
And  yet  this  is  but  to  mistake  an  act  of  Divine  discipline 
for  the  collapse  of  truth.  Oh,  put  thy  trust  in  God,  cling 
to  His  hand,  though  He  lead  thee  through  the  darkness. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  113 

V.  Again,  there  is  the  sense  of  unforgiven  sin.  Much 
more  reasonably  may  this  depress  us,  for  sin  is  the  true, 
the  deepest  secret  of  the  gloom  of  the  soul.  If  sin  were 
compatible  in  man  with  lasting  joy  and  peace,  the  Maker 
of  the  world  would  not  be  the  perfect  moral  Being  that  He 
is  If  He  is  a  judge,  He  is  also  a  physician,  and  so  the 
truest  counsel  and  the  truest  wisdom  is  still  to  "hope  in 
the  Lord." 

There  are  many  secrets  that  are  worth  knowing,  but 
none  surely  can  better  deserve  our  attention  than  the 
secret  of  peace  and  joy  of  the  soul.  "  If  we  say  we  have 
no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us  ;  but 
if  we  confess  our  sins,  He  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us 
our  sins,  "  for  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  His  Son  cleanseth 
us  from  all  sin." 

H.  P.  L. 


LXIII.  God's  Doings  in  the  Time  of  Old.  Ps. 
xliv.  1.  ,(  iVe  have  heard  with  our  ears,  O  God,  our  fathers 
have  totd  us,  what  Thou  hast  done  in  their  time  of  old." 

This  verse  is  an  act  of  acknowledgment  and  praise.  The 
psalm  probably  was  written  in  those  dark  times  which 
preceded  the  final  catastrophe  of  the  Babylonish  captivity. 
There  was  failure  abroad  and  misery  at  home.  At  such  a 
time  the  hearts  of  religious  men  turned  back  upon  the 
past — upon  all  God  had  done  for  Israel  then.  Was  He 
not  the  same  God  ?  Would  He  be  inconsistent  with  Him- 
self ?  Surely  it  was  enough  to  remind  Him  of  His  mercies 
in  the  past,  and  then  to  be  certain  that  the  future  would 
be  provided  for.  The  Bible  is  largely  made  up  of  human 
histories,  and  in  God's  conduct  and  control  of  man,  He 
reveals  Himself.  History  has  thus  a  distinctly  religious 
use,  as  showing  how  God  works  and  what  He  is. 

I.  Looking  to  the  records  of  the  past,  we  are  taken  out 
of  the  present,  that  is  to  say,  we  are  taken  out  of  ourselves. 
History  throws  us  back  into  the  past,  and  we  see  how 
similar  difficulties  were  encountered  and  overcome. 

II.  History  places  us  face  to  face  with  the  infinite  and 
eternal  God.  "  I  am  Jehovah  :  I  change  not."  In  His 
dealings  with  men  no  less  than  in  His  own  essence  He  is 


114  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

the  same.  And  what  God  has  been  to  men  we  know  from 
history.    We  know  then  from  history  what  He  will  be  to  us. 

III.  There  are  three  departments  of  human  life  in  which 
this  recurrence  to  the  past  is  of  great  religious  value. 

(i)  There  is  the  family.  Every  family  has  its  traditions 
of  the  past — has  its  encouragements  and  warnings,  its 
splendid  memories  of  devotion  and  virtue,  and  too  often  its 
skeletons  in  the  cupboards.  All  this  is  part  of  the  provi- 
dential teaching  intended  for  each  member  of  the  family. 

(2)  There  is  our  country.  It  should  be  part  of  every 
man's  religious  education  to  learn  to  scan  the  annals  of 
his  country,  till  he  can  with  fervour  and  sincerity  exclaim 
with  the  psalmist,  "  O  God,  we  have  heard  with  our  ears 
and  our  fathers  have  told  us,  what  Thou  hast  done  in  their 
time  of  old." 

(3)  There  is  the  Church  of  Jesus.  Her  annals  are  a 
mighty  revelation  of  the  faithfulness  and  presence  of  God. 

H.  P.  L. 


LXIV.     Calling  upon  God  in  Trouble.      Ps.  1.   15. 

"  Call  upon  Me  in  the  day  of  trouble:  I  will  deliver  thee,  and 
thou  shall  glorify  Me." 

LOVE  that  needs  to  be  entreated  is  not  perfect  love.  So, 
at  least,  we  judge  of  all  the  highest  forms  of  human  love. 
What  father,  for  example,  requires  his  child  to  come  to 
him  and  beg  him  for  what  the  child  needs  before  he  will 
consent  to  bestow  it  ?  We  feel  that  for  a  father  to  treat 
his  child  thus,  would  at  once  show  that  the  father's  own 
heart  was  wrong  and  cold.  The  spontaneity  of  the  gifts 
of  love,  the  delight  it  has  in  anticipating  the  wants  of 
others  rather  than  in  waiting  to  be  asked,  are  of  the  very 
essence  of  love.  If  these  are  absent  then  we  say  love  is 
absent.  And  this  is  especially  true  when  the  object  of  our 
love  is  in  distress  or  trouble,  and  is  thrown  helpless  and 
dependent  upon  us.  A  mother  does  not  need  the  cry  of 
her  sick  child  to  unseal  the  deep  fountains  of  a  mother's 
love,  and  to  cause  them  to  flow  out  in  all  their  tender 
ministries  towards  it.  The  little  face,  pale  and  worn  with 
disease,  is  its  own  best  appeal  to  the  mother's  heart ;  and 
you  would  pierce  that  heart  with  an   unutterable  pain  if 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  115 


you  thought  it  would  give  no  relief  to  the  child  unless  it 
first  pleaded  for  pity. 

I.  But  what  is  it  our  text  tells  us  ?  That  He  who  is  the 
Eternal  and  Infinite  Lord,  the  "  Everlasting  Father,"  the 
greatness  and  wonder  of  whose  love  to  His  children  makes 
even  the  deepest  of  human  love  seem  poor  and  cold,  that 
He  waits  for  the  cry  of  His  troubled  child,  ere  He  will 
bless  ;  and  makes  the  call  for  His  deliverance  the  condition 
of  its  bestowal  ?  Even  so.  This  is  the  mystery  of  prayer  ; 
a  mystery  far  profounder  than  the  tangled  questions  about 
prayer  with  which  we  vex  and  perplex  our  hearts,  such  as 
how  can  it  be  answered  in  a  universe  ruled  by  law,  or  how 
can  it  be  reconciled  with  the  unchangeableness  of  God, 
and  the  rest.  Why  should  God  impose  this  restraint  on 
His  compassion  ?  Why  should  He,  who  holds  all  blessings 
in  His  hand,  and  who  has  all  love  in  His  heart,  refuse  to 
bless  His  people  unless  "  He  be  inquired  of  by  the  house 
of  Israel  to  do  it  for  them  "  ?  If  we  can  answer  this  ques- 
tion, we  have  solved  the  final  mystery  of  prayer. 

And  yet  those  who  know  the  value  of  prayer,  and 

"What  a  change  one  short  hour  spent  in  God's  presence 
Will  prevail  to  make," 

will  be  the  first  to  thank  God  even  for  the  mystery  of 
prayer.  Whether  there  be  other  and  still  higher  reasons 
for  the  necessity  of  prayer — reasons  which  lie  deep  in  the 
nature  of  God  as  well  as  in  the  nature  of  man — they  may 
not  know ;  but  this  they  do  know,  that  prayer  justifies 
itself,  and  the  very  condition,  that  seemed  like  a  limitation 
of  the  love  of  God,  becomes  one  of  its  richest  gifts  to  the 
heart. 

And  this  is  one  of  the  reasons  which  go  very  far  to 
explain  sorrow.  It  leads  men  to  pray.  When  all  things 
are  bright  and  prosperous  without,  and  we  live  in  unbroken 
happiness,  with  sunlight  everywhere  around  us,  we  are  in 
danger  of  forgetting  God  by  forgetting  our  need  of  prayer. 
It  is  not  "Jeshurun"  alone  who,  when  he  "waxed  fat," 
"forsook  God  who  made  him,  and  lightly  esteemed  the 
Rock  of  his  salvation,"  for  we  have  all  fallen  into  the  same 
sin  again  and  again.  Just  as  the  too  great  brightness  of 
the  sun  causes  the  distant  mountains  to  fade  away,  wrapped 
in  a  haze  of  light,  so  in  our  summer  day  of  gladness  things 


n6  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

unseen  and  eternal  are  hidden  from  us,  and  this  present 
and  passing  world  absorbs  and  occupies  all  our  thoughts. 

Then  God  sends  us  trouble.  The  clouds  gather ;  the  sun 
is  hidden  ;  the  storm  falls  upon  us,  and  we  walk  in  dark- 
ness and  in  fear  ;  and  then  for  the  first  time,  it  may  be 
for  years,  we  begin  to  pray.  The  voice  that  through  long 
years  of  uninterrupted  peace  and  prosperity  never  blessed 
God  for  His  mercy,  now  "in  the  day  of  trouble"  is  heard 
calling  upon  Him  for  deliverance.  This  is  not,  it  is  true, 
the  highest  form  of  prayer ;  it  is  better  to  pray  from  fear 
than  not  to  pray  at  all.  The  burden  of  a  great  sorrow  has 
brought  us  to  our  knees  at  last.  So  trouble,  like  prayer, 
begins  to  explain  itself.  We  make  a  sudden  discovery  of 
ourselves,  of  our  coldness  and  worldliness  and  unbelief, 
and  a  thousand  promises  of  God  that  the  glare  of  day  had 
hidden,  begin  to  shine  upon  us  as  the  stars  do  when  the 
night  is  come.  And  slowly  our  prayer  itself  changes.  We 
begin  to  be  more  concerned  to  be  delivered  from  the 
trouble  we  have  found  in  our  own  evil  hearts  and  in  our 
own  evil  wills,  than  from  the  sorrow  that  has  shown  us 
all  this  unsuspected  and  terrible  sin  in  ourselves,  until  at 
length  the  prayer,  which  began  with  a  passionate  cry  for 
deliverance  for  the  trouble,  ends  in  a  far  holier  desire, 
"  Thy  will  be  done." 

And  when  that  will  is  done  in  us,  trouble  has  done  its 
blessed  work.  God  hears  our  prayer,  and  the  same  hand  of 
love  that  laid  the  weary  burden  on  us  now  removes  it,  and 
the. thick  clouds  pass  away  and  the  sunshine  returns,  and 
we  walk  singing  along  the  way.  But  it  is  a  "  new  song  " 
we  are  singing  now.  Before  our  trouble  came,  our  song 
was  of  happiness  in  ourselves  ;  now  it  is  of  happiness  in 
our  God.  We  "glorify  Him,"  and  that  not  only  for  our 
deliverance  from  the  burden  of  sorrow,  but  for  what  He  is 
in  Himself  to  us  ;  for  the  new  life  we  have  found  in  Him, 
and  for  the  new  peace  that  the  surrender  of  our  will  to  His 
has  brought  to  us  ;  and,  burdened  with  a  new  sense  of 
God's  goodness,  we  now  can  say — 

"Amid  my  list  of  blessings  infinite 
Stands  this  the  foremost — that  my  heart  has  bled." 

II.  Two  other  thoughts  are  suggested  by  the  text. 
Only  a  personal  God  and  Father  meets  man's  needs  when 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  117 


he  is  in  any  deep  sorrow  or  trouble.  The  pseudo-scientific 
thought  of  the  present  day  that  robs  man  of  his  faith  in 
a  living  and  personal  God  not  only  does  violence  to  all  the 
noblest  intuitions  of  his  reason,  but  robs  his  heart  of  the 
solitary  refuge  to  which  a  human  heart  can  flee  in  time  of 
trouble.  Who  can  call  on  a  law  or  a  force  or  on  a  vast  im- 
personal humanity  for  deliverance  "  in  the  day  of  trouble  "  ? 
What  we  need,  then,  is  a  Father,  and  a  Father  to  whom 
we  may  go  as  freely  as  our  children  come  to  us,  and  into 
whose  fatherly  heart  we  may  unburden  all  our  grief,  sure 
that  His  sympathy  and  love  will  not  send  us  unheard 
away.  So  long  as  man  is  man,  and  is  "  born  unto  trouble 
as  the  sparks  fly  upward,"  so  long  will  this  verse  and 
verses  like  it  touch  a  deeper  chord  in  his  heart  than  either 
pantheism  or  materialism  can  ever  reach.  Above  and 
beyond  all  law  and  force  there  is  a  Father  in  heaven,  and 
a  Father  who  speaks  to  every  sorrowing  child  throughout 
the  world  in  words  like  these  :  "  Call  upon  Me  in  the  day 
of  trouble  and  I  will  deliver  thee." 

III.  Last  of  all,  let  us  never  forget  the  individuality  of 
God's  love  and  care  for  us  in  our  trouble.  In  this  verse 
God  speaks  to  the  world  as  if  there  were  but  one  child  in 
it,  and  that  child  was  ourself ;  and  as  if  there  were  but  one 
trouble  in  it,  and  that  trouble  was  our  own.  It  has  been 
said  that  "the  most  precious  thing  in  the  promises  of  God 
is  that  they  are  addressed  not  to  the  many,  but  to  the 
one;  not  to  the  indefinite  'you/  but  to  the  personal  and 
individual  '  thee  ; '  "  and  we  may  apply  this  here.  The 
lowliest  and  humblest  of  God's  children  may  say,  "  I 
sought  the  Lord,  and  He  heard  me,  and  delivered  me  from 
all  my  fears." 

G.  S.  B. 


LXV.  Penitence.  Ps.  li.  16,  17.  "For  Thou  desirest 
not  sacrifice,  else  would  1  give  it;  Thou  delightest  not  in  burnt 
offering.  The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit ;  a  broken 
and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God,  Thou  wilt  not  despise." 

The  occasion  of  this  psalm  is  supposed  to  be  the  mourning 
of  David  under  the  searching  rebuke  of  Nathan  the  prophet, 
for  his  sin  in  the  matter  of  Uriah  the  Hittite.     There  are 


n8  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

two  facts  in  the  psalm  ;  the  fact  of  sin,  which  is  the  basis  of 
the  confession  and  of  the  entreaty,  and  the  fact  of  David's 
penitential  sorrow.  And  as  this  existence  of  sin  is  a  uni- 
versal fact,  so  this  feeling  of  penitence  must  be  a  universal 
experience,  ere  that  sin  can  be  purged  away.  There  is 
a  disposition  in  some  modern  teaching  to  ignore  the  ne- 
cessity for  such  repentance,  or  to  treat  it  as  a  subsidiary 
or  accidental  thing.  But  Christ  is  "  exalted  as  a  Prince 
and  a  Saviour,"  first  "to  give  repentance  unto  Israel," 
and  then  "forgiveness  of  sins."  We  dare  not  make  the 
Gospel  offer  freer  than  God  Himself  has  made  it.  "Except 
ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish."  There  is  a  sorrow 
which  worketh  death,  and  semblances  of  contrition  that 
are  not  only  unavailing,  but  pernicious.  There  is  a  dark 
spectre  of  remorse  that  flits  avengingly  before  the  con- 
science even  of  the  stoutest  sinner ;  he  may  tremble  at  the 
thought  of  death,  and  may  relent  in  his  perverseness  and 
vow  reformation ;  and  yet  with  all  this  there  may  be  an 
utter  want  of  one  solitary  element  of  true  contrition.  There 
are  various  qualities  of  genuine  repentance  noticed  in  this 
psalm. 

I.  The  first  verse  brings  before  us  the  true  penitent's 
hope  in  God's  mercy.  There  is  a  remembrance  in  the 
heart's  deepest  sorrow  of  a  loving  kindness  which  com- 
passionates, and  of  a  multitude  of  mercies  which  delights 
to  blot  out  transgressions. 

II.  The  true  penitent's  intense  loathing  of  sin. 

III.  The  true  penitent's  full  confession. 

IV.  The  true  penitent  recognises  the  fact  that  he  has 
sinned  against  God. 

V.  He  recognises  the  original  taint  which  is  the  source 
of  all  this  evil. 

VI.  Recognising  the  intense  spirituality  of  the  law,  he 
sees  the  absolute  necessity  for  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
in  order  to  work  the  penitence  of  the  mind. 

VII.  The  penitent's  willingness  to  endure  all,  to  part 
with  all,  if  only  his  sins  may  be  forgiven. 

These  are  some  of  the  characteristics  of  true  repentance. 
Are  they  yours  ? 

W.  M.  P. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  119 

LXVI.  God's  Salvation.  Ps.  lxvi.  16.  "Come  and 
hear,  all  ye  that  fear  God,  and  I  will  declare  what  He  hath 
done  for  my  soul." 

It  is  possible  the  psalmist  refers  in  these  words  only 
to  some  great  deliverance  from  temporal  trouble  he  had 
experienced,  rather  than  to  the  spiritual  blessings  he  had 
found  in  God  and  His  salvation.  But  this  need  not  hinder 
us  from  taking  this  verse  in  its  fullest  and  widest  meaning. 
We  may  read  it — we  ought  to  read  it — with  the  light  of 
the  New  Testament  shining  upon  it,  and  learn  the  lessons 
it  should  teach  us.     They  seem  to  be  two. 

I.  First,  it  teaches  us  the  true  idea  of  salvation.  It  is 
"  what  God  hath  done  for  our  soul."  Now  it  is  in  this  one 
point  the  Gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  differs  funda- 
mentally from  all  the  false  religions  and  from  all  the 
systems  of  moral  reformation  the  world  has  ever  known. 
All  of  these  begin  their  message  to  man  by  telling  him 
what  he  is  to  do  to  secure  the  favour  of  Heaven,  or  to 
amend  his  evil  life.  The  Gospel,  on  the  other  hand,  begins 
by  declaring  what  God  has  done  to  save  man.  Instead  of 
telling  him  to  save  himself,  it  invites  him  to  "  be  saved." 
It  comes  to  him,  not  as  a  new  code  of  moral  duties  he 
needs  to  learn,  but  as  a  "free  gift"  he  is  welcome  to  receive. 
Every  other  religion  had  said  to  the  world  "  Do  this,  and 
live."  The  Gospel  reversed  the  message  and  proclaimed, 
"  Live,  and  do  this."  And  this  is  the  reason  for  its  con- 
stant appeal  to  belief,  or  faith,  or  trust  as  the  one  condition 
of  its  saving  man  If  it  had  been  an  elaborate  scheme  of 
morals,  it  could  have  dispensed  with  trust,  for  it  would  have 
been  sufficient  for  it  to  have  given  new  light  and  clearness 
to  the  conscience,  and  a  new  impulse  to  the  will ;  but  since 
it  is  vitally  and  essentially  a  work  God  is  willing  to  do  for 
man,  it  is  clear  everything  must  depend — if  man  be  free, 
and  the  Gospel  never  ceases  to  recognise  and  respect  the 
freedom  of  man — on  man's  willingness  to  allow  God  to 
save  him,  and  this  is  really  determined  by  his  "  faith." 
The  connection  between  belief,  in  this  high  moral  sense  of 
the  word,  and  salvation  is  simply  inevitable. 

It  is  clear,  also,  if  this  be  salvation,  why  so  many  who 
seem  to  be  in  earnest  fail  to  attain  it.  They  begin  with  a 
fatal  mistake, — the  mistake  of  endeavouring  to  save  them- 


120  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

selves,  instead  of  trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  save 
them.  And  they  find  it  very  sad  and  weary  work.  The 
burden  and  responsibility  of  trying  to  save  their  own  souls 
grow  unbearable,  as  they  become  increasingly  in  earnest 
and  make  the  bitter  discovery  that  the  more  they  strive 
to  save  themselves,  the  further  off  salvation  seems.  Only 
those  who,  like  Luther,  have  passed  through  an  experience 
like  this,  who  have  known  the  hopelessness  of  the  struggle, 
can  tell  the  blessed  light  and  peace  that  broke  upon  the 
soul  when  God's  way  of  salvation  suddenly  became  clear 
before  them.  It  was  worth  having  lived  through  all  the 
weary  struggles  of  former  days  to  hear  the  voice  of  Jesus 
say,  "Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

II.  But  the  text  teaches  us  another  lesson  as  well,  and  it 
is  this,  that  when  God  has  saved  our  souls  we  are  to  confess 
it  before  men.  It  was  not  enough  for  the  psalmist  to  know 
"what  God  had  done  for  his  soul;"  he  invites  others  to 
come  and  hear,  that  he  may  declare  it  to  them.  Now  the 
confession  of  God's  salvation,  so  far  at  any  rate  as  confes- 
sion is  made  with  the  lip,  is  one  of  those  Christian  duties 
in  which  most  of  us  constantly  and  grievously  fail.  We 
find  it  easy  to  talk  about  politics,  or  literature,  or  art,  but 
we  are  generally  silent  about  our  religious  life  and  faith. 
It  would  excite  considerable  astonishment,  even  among  a 
company  of  Christian  people,  if  at  the  close  of  an  interest- 
ing conversation  on  miscellaneous  subjects,  some  one  were 
to  say,  "  Now  listen  to  me,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  God 
has  done  for  my  soul."  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
greatness  and  glory  of  the  salvation  He  has  accomplished 
are  the  only  subjects  about  which  it  is  forbidden  to  speak. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  said,  in  answer  to  this,  that  there  is  a 
danger  of  too  much  freedom  in  talking  of  sacred  subjects, 
or  that  the  soul  has  its  modesty  as  well  as  the  body,  and 
resents  exposure  quite  as  keenly,  and  that  this  is  why  it 
shrinks  from  uncovering  the  secrets  of  its  spiritual  history 
to  others.  All  this  is  perfectly  true,  and  fully  justifies  us 
in  not  speaking  too  freely  or  indiscriminately  of  "what  God 
hath  done  for  our  soul,"  but  the  question  is,  Does  it  justify 
us  in  never  speaking  at  all  ?  Or  if  it  be  urged  that  after 
all  the  life  is  the  great  thing,  and  if  that  be  a  witness  to 
the  truth,  it  can  matter  very  little  if  we  do  not  speak  in 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  121 

words  about  it,  again  we  answer,  Be  it  so.  But  did  the 
witness  of  the  life  satisfy  Christ  ?  None  of  us  can  pretend 
to  bear  such  a  confession  of  the  truth  in  our  lives  as  Christ 
did  in  His,  and  yet  He  was  more  than  an  Example  for 
men,  He  was  a  Voice  to  them  as  well;  He  was  "the 
Word"  as  well  as  "the  Life,"  and  if  we  follow  Him,  we 
shall  find  there  are  times  when  the  silent  influence  of  an 
example  does  not  satisfy  us,  and  when  we  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  say,  in  the  words  of  the  Apostles,  "We  cannot 
but  speak  those  things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard." 

III.  The  truth  is,  some  confession  of  our  faith  is  as  much 
needed  for  the  sake  of  our  own  faith  as  it  is  for  that  of 
others.  Confession  is  to  conviction  what  air  is  to  flame. 
To  compel  faith  to  live  a  silent  and  secluded  life  within  the 
soul  is  to  endanger  the  very  life  of  faith  ;  it  needs  the  light 
and  the  air  for  its  own  health  and  growth.  Besides  which, 
no  man  really  knows  how  much  or  how  little  he  believes 
until  he  tries  to  utter  his  faith  with  his  lips.  It  is  quite 
possible  some  of  us  never  confess  our  faith  before  men, 
because  we  have  no  faith  to  confess. 

G.  S.  B. 


LXVII.      The  Cry  of  the  Aged.      Ps.  Ixxi.   9.     "  Oast 

me  not  off  in  the  time  of  old  age ;  forsake  me  not  when  my 
strength  faileth. " 

THIS  is  the  cry  of  trembling,  tottering  age,  to  man,  as  well 
as  to  God.  Among  the  very  saddest  of  human  experiences 
is  the  decay  which  is  the  harbinger  of  death. 

I.  The  phenomena  of  human  decay.  At  both  ends  of 
life,  man  is  the  most  helpless  and  the  weakest  of  the  crea- 
tures. Man  grows  slowly  and  toilsomely  to  his  prime,  and 
as  slowly  and  painfully  decays. 

II.  The  reasons  of  this  law  of  physical  decay  : 

(1)  To  drive  home  the  lessons  which  God  is  ever  seeking 
to  teach  us  about  sin.  Death  is  not  translation  nor  is  it 
intended  to  be  such.  It  is  a  curse  which  sin  has  inflicted 
on  the  world. 

(2)  To  develop  the  noblest  qualities  of  the  human  spirit 
by  the  ministries  which  sickness,  suffering  and  decay  call 
forth.  The  stern  law  grows  beautiful,  as  it  calls  forth 
tender  and  unselfish  ministry. 


122  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

(3)  That  He  may  strengthen  faith  and  hope  in  immor- 
tality. The  destroyer  is  suffered  to  ravage,  that  the 
deliverer  may  be  welcomed  and  blessed. 

III.  The  duties  which  spring  out  of  these  facts. 

(1)  The  tender  care  of  the  old. 

(2)  To  press  on  their  hearts  the  Gospel,  which  brings  to 
light,  life  and  immortality. 

"  Now  when  I  am  old  and  grey-headed,  O  God,  forsake 
me  not." 

J.  B.  B. 


LXVIII.      Thoughts    of  God.     Ps.  lxxvii.  3.      "  I  re- 
membered God,  a ?id  was  troubled." 

PERHAPS  more  than  any  argument  that  is  possible  to  us 
these  words  set  forth,  by  gloomy  but  most  positive  infer- 
ence, the  solemn  and  pathetic  doctrine  of  human  depravity. 
It  is  unnatural  that  the  creature  should  think  of  the  Creator 
and  be  troubled  :  there  is  something  behind  a  confession 
of  this  sort.  So  when  Asaph  says  "  I  remembered  God 
and  was  troubled,"  we  feel  at  once  that  Asaph  had  been 
doing  something  wrong,  that  a  very  tormenting  memory  is 
now  asserting  its  authority  over  him,  and  that  his  recollec- 
tion is  like  a  sting  piercing  and  poisoning  his  whole  life. 
It  is  just  the  same  the  world  over  ;  if  we  have  fear  in  think- 
ing about  God  we  have  been  doing  something  ungodly.  If 
God  as  a  thought  and  as  a  reference  be  our  supreme  joy, 
that  is  the  measure  of  our  obedience. 

I.  This  text  appeals  to  every  one  of  us.  How  is  it  when 
we  think  about  God  ?  If  the  answer  is  "  He  is  our  greatest 
joy,"  then  blessed  are  we.  If  contrariwise  we  say,  "Talk 
about  something  else,  it  is  too  ghostly  a  subject,"  then  it 
indicates  a  state  of  the  utterest  corruption  of  the  heart. 
We  call  for  what  we  like,  and  if  we  never  call  for  God  it  is 
because  we  do  not  like  to  retain  God  in  our  knowledge. 
Do  not  put  me  off  with  the  notion  that  you  are  too  re- 
ligious to  talk  about  religion.  They  that  fear  God  talk 
often  one  to  another. 

II.  The  remembrance  of  God  must  always  be  an  intel- 
lectual trouble.     There  is  not  room  enough  in  our  mind  to 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  123 


entertain  God  in  all  His  majesty.  He  could  have  but  a 
mean  lodgement  even  in  the  most  capacious  mind.  Sir 
William  Hamilton  said,  "  A  God  that  could  be  understood 
is  not  a  God."  We  cannot  make  any  intellectual  advances 
towards  the  conquest  of  the  ideal  God.  The  world  is  no 
nearer  intellectually  the  true  conception  of  God  than  it 
was  five  thousand  years  ago. 

III.  The  remembrance  of  God  is  a  trouble  and  fear  to 
the  conscience.  Conscience  says,  "  Let  me  go  where  He 
is  not;  let  me  flee  from  His  presence.  His  questions  will 
be  judgments,  His  glances  will  be  fires  penal,  for  1  have 
no  answer  to  any  tittle  of  His  law."  Do  not  discourage 
this  operation  of  conscience — it  is  a  kind  of  worship.  When 
a  man  thinks  himself  too  bad  to  pray,  he  is  within  the 
mystic  lines  of  worship — the  man  is  not  lost.  If  thou  hast 
in  thee  any  torment  of  conscience,  and  swift  upbraiding  of 
recollection,  thou  art  not  lost ;  the  Good  Shepherd  comes 
after  thee,  even  the  wounded  Christ,  all  blood,  blood  on  the 
feet,  on  the  head,  on. either  hand,  in  the  wounded  side,  all 
blood,  He  comes  to  thine  all  sin,  God's  great  answer  to 
thy  crime  and  need.  Do  not  discourage  the  operations  ot 
an  upbraiding  conscience ;  they  are  a  kind  of  social  salva- 
tion, because  they  are  a  terror  to  evil  doers.  There  are 
some  of  us  who  cannot  be  reached  by  other  instruments 
than  fear,  apprehension  and  the  like,  and  the  true  minister 
of  God  will  not  forget  this  fact,  but  will,  on  occasion, 
knowing  the  terror  of  the  law,  make  use  of  them  for  the 
persuasion  of  the  obstinate  and  the  hard-hearted. 

IV.  If  sinners  come  penitently  to  Christ  their  trouble 
will  be  turned  into  joy.  If  they  come  intellectually  only 
they  will  find  sore  trouble  of  mind.  One  man  came  to 
Christ  saying,  "  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner,"  and  He 
sent  him  down  to  his  house  justified.  One  woman  could 
not  speak  to  Him  except  with  her  tears,  and  He  said  to 
her,  "  Thy  sins  are  all  forgiven  thee,"  and  the  great  clouds 
went  up  and  the  great  light  shone,  heaven-full. 

V.  Sooner  or  later  the  thought  of  God  will  need  to  be 
faced.  Do  not  be  led  away  because  you  have  seen  some 
one  who  has  succeeded  in  the  miracle  of  forgetting  God  :  it 
is  no  miracle.  The  recollection  will  come,  and  the  mighty 
man  who  has  forgotten  God  and  lived  upon  the  memory  of 
a  wrecked  divinity  will  remember  when  God  has  forgotten 


124  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

him.     Either  God  will  be  your  greatest  trouble  or  He  will 
be  your  supremest  joy. 

J.  ?. 


LXIX.  Is  Life  Worth  Living?  Ps.  lxxix.  13.  "So 
we  Thy  people  and  sheep  of  Thy  pasture  will  give  Thee  thanks 
for  ever:  we  will  show  forth  Thy  praise  to  all  generations" 

SINCE  this  question  is  now  being  deliberately  discussed,  Is 
life  worth  living  ?  we  are  not,  as  Christians,  to  pass  it  quite 
lightly  by  without  consideration.  It  is  not  desirable  that 
we  should  separate  the  pulpit  from  the  thoughts  of  the 
week-day  world,  or  avoid  the  questions  which  men  who 
scorn  religion  discuss  among  themselves.  Our  faith  should 
be  no  mere  exotic,  covered  with  a  glass  lest  the  winds  of 
heaven  should  visit  it  too  roughly  ;  but  rather  it  should  be 
like  the  green  blade  of  corn,  on  which  the  rain  may  descend, 
and  the  snows  lie,  and  the  scorching  sun  shine,  and  the 
winds  blow,  but  which,  because  God's  sun  does  shine  upon 
it,  and  as  a  result  of  that,  has  a  vital  power ;  then,  not  in 
spite  of,  but  because  of  these  influences,  should  still  grow 
up  to  the  tiny  blade,  the  tender  ear,  and  to  the  ripened 
corn.  Is  this  life  worth  living?  life  as  regarded  by  itself; 
life  on  this  earth,  life  apart  from  God  ;  life  considered 
under  its  purely  earthly  aspects  and  relationships.  Let 
us  look  at  life  steadily  and  as  a  whole. 

It  is  not  all  darkness  ;  it  has  its  crimson  glows  and  its 
golden  sunsets.  It  is  not  all  clouds  ;  and  even  those  we 
have  have  their  silver  linings.  It  is  not  all  winter  ;  it  has 
its  summer  days  on  which  it  is  a  luxury  to  breathe  the 
breath  of  life.  Life  has  its  May  when  all  is  glorious. 
Then  the  woods  are  vocal,  the  winds  breathe  music,  the 
very  breeze  has  mirth  in  it. 

Though  darkness  comes  alike  to  all,  yet  we  all  have  such 
periods — call  them  intervals,  at  least — between  storm  and 
storm,  interspaces  of  sunlight  between  the  breadths  of  the 
gloom,  until  over  every  one  of  us  the  night  at  last  sweeps 
down. 

Let  us  acknowledge,  let  us  cherish,  let  us  be  grateful  for 
these  natural  pleasures,  these  innocent  and  simple  and  holy 
joys ! 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  125 


Let  us  admit,  too,  that  God  is  very  good  to  us,  and  that 
the  lesser  evils  of  our  lives  are  often  only  in  anticipation, 
or  of  our  own  making,  not  of  God's.  The  Christian  is  no 
pessimist  to  encourage  in  himself  a  view  of  life  needlessly 
discouraging  ;  no  ascetic  thinking  that  God  cares  for  pain 
and  sorrow  for  sorrow's  sake  ;  no  optimist  dwelling  in  the 
groves  of  myrtle.  Yet  if  we  ask  if  these  coloured  threads 
are  strong  enough  to  weave  the  warp  or  the  woof  of  hie, 
we  think  we  know  what  your  answer  must  be.  Let  us 
a-rant  that  childhood,  keen  as  are  its  little  trials,  can  hardly 
be  otherwise  than  happy  ;  and  that  its  tears  are  dried  as 
soon  as  the  dew  upon  the  rose.  Let  us  grant  that  boyhood 
is  generally  happy.  . 

But  how  is  it  with  us  when  youth  merges  into  manhood, 
and  the  golden  gates  close  silently  behind  us,  and  we  step 
forth  into  the  thorny  wilderness  ? 

We  will  not  take  the  great  crimes  of  life  into  account, 
though  which  of  us  can  say  he  is  quite  safe  from  them. 
But  we  will  take  the  common  cares  of  life,  its  daily  fevers, 
its  necessary  trials.  Our  sorrows  are  quite  different  sor- 
rows ;  but  which  of  us,  be  he  rich  or  poor,  be  he  senator  or 
shop-boy,  is  exempt  from  them  ?  Take  pain  :  is  there  one 
of  us  who  has  not  known  the  throbbing  head,  the  aching 
nerve,  the  sleepless  night?  Take  health  :  are  there  not 
some  who  rarely  know  what  perfect  health  is  ?  lake  re- 
putation :  have  you  not  been  in  anguish  when  cruel  and 
untrue  things  have  been  said  of  you  ?  Take  households  : 
is  there  no  household  whose  "graves  are  scattered  far  and 
wide  "  ?  Is  there  no  father  who  has  seen  the  dust  sprinkled 
over  the  head  of  his  bright,  happy  child  ? 

A  man  may  bear  up  bravely  against  sorrow  ;  he  may 
think  it  no  great  matter  whether  he  be  happy  or  unhappy  ; 
'  and  if  life  be  bitter,  and  not  sweet,  he  may  find  it  still  to 
be  borne,  and  if  he  be  a  true  Christian  he  may  say,  '  1 
have  received  a  cross  at  His  hands,  and  I  will  bear  it  even 
to  the  death."  But  when  to  these  sorrows  sin  is  added, 
when  calamity  meets  an  accusing  conscience,  when  a  man 
has  a  sense  of  wasted  opportunities,  the  shame  of  forsaken 
ideals  and  the  sting  of  evil  memories,  is  there  no  sorrow 
or  anguish  in  thoughts  like  these,  apart  from  all  deeper  or 
darker  errors  ?  , 

If  you  ask  whether  life  without  God  in  the  world  and  no 


126  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

hope  beyond  the  grave  is  worth  living-,  we  say,  "  no,"  and 
all  the  best  and  wisest  of  mankind  echo  it. 

Over  the  volumes  of  human  history  is  written  "Vanity  of 
vanities,"  and  the  knell  of  lamentation,  mourning,  and  woe  ; 
and  the  very  Scriptures  are  the  record  of  human  sorrow. 
There  are  those  who  would  rob  us  of  our  human  hopes  : 
who  would  take  our  Lord  out  of  the  sepulchre  and  not  tell 
us  where  they  had  laid  him:  who  would  change  our  God 
into  a  stream  of  perplexing  tendencies.  But  if  they  want 
to  take  our  fine  gold  from  us  we  do  not  want  their  dross 
or  tinfoil  in  its  place.  We,  some  of  us,  will  cling  to  duty 
though  it  be  lost  of  sanctions,  and  to  virtue  though  she 
have  lost  her  oracle  ;  but  we  do  not  need  sham  gods  or 
mock  eternities.  And  as  for  the  world,  if  atheism  reign, 
it  will  go  on  its  way  picking  and  stealing  till  the  pit 
swallow  it  up.  If  there  be  no  God,  no  heavens  unseen,  if 
there  be  no  atonement  for  intolerable  wrongs,  if  praying 
nations  lift  up  their  hands  in  vain,  if  hollow  echoes  arc 
all  the  answer  which  follows  Christ's  words  upon  the  cross, 
then  life  is  a  make-believe  which  nothing  can  save  from 
intolerable  weariness. 

But  let  one  sound  from  God's  voice  thrill  through  the 
deafened  ears,  let  but  one  ray  flash  upon  the  blinded  eyes, 
and  how  is  all  changed  ?  How  can  we  then  thank  God 
1  for  our  creation,  preservation,  and  all  the  blessings  of  this 
life  "  ?  Ask  the  Christian  "  Is  life  worth  living  ?  "  and  he 
will  say,  "  Yes  " ;  "  for  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is 
gain."  Death  is  the  veil  which  they  who  live  call  life  ;  we 
sleep,  and  it  is  lifted ! 

F.  W.  F. 


LXX.  The  Joyful  Sound.  Ps.  lxxxix.  15.  " Blessed 
is  the  people  that  know  the  joyful  sound;  they  shall  walk,  O 
Lord,  in  the  light  of  Thy  countenance." 

I.  What  are  we  to  understand  by  the  blessedness  here 
mentioned  ?  Blessedness  is  something  more  than  hap- 
piness, and  it  was  a  mistake  to  translate  :  "  the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  blessed  God,"  by  the  words :  "  the  glo- 
rious gospel  of  the  happy  God."  A  bee  may  be  happy 
when  it  dips  into  the  (lower,  the  fish  are  happy  as  they 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  127 

flash  in  the  sun-lit  rill,  and  the  bird  is  happy  as  it  rains 
music  from  the  morning  cloud,  and  the  deer  are  happy 
as  you  see  them  moving  in  the  forest  and  bounding  over 
the  fen  down  to  the  water.  Everything  in  the  Indian 
or  Australian  forests  at  times  suggests  happiness.  We 
are  not  now,  however,  having  our  attention  called  to  the 
meaning  of  the  word  "  happy."  The  great  God  by  His 
great  Spirit  working  in  the  psalmist  had  a  meaning  far 
greater  than  that.  To  be  blessed  is  more  than  to  be 
happy,  happier  than  the  deer  in  the  dingle,  happier  than 
the  parrot  in  the  forest  can  ever  be.  Blessedness  is  more 
than  the  happiness  of  animalism  even  when  the  will  is 
excited. 

Blessedness  is  God's  happiness.  There  must  be  an  in- 
finity in  this  kind  of  happiness,  happiness  beyond  happi- 
ness that  merely  mortal  man  can  know  without  having  a 
new  life.  This  blessedness  may  exist  even  with  the  most 
painful  surroundings.  The  most  blessed  of  our  race  are 
those  who  have  had  such  surroundings — when  they  were 
strained  on  the  rack  or  when  they  endured  the  fire.  Jesus 
in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  speaks  of  the  persecuted  for 
His  sake  as  blessed ;  "Blessed  are  they  which  are  perse- 
cuted for  righteousness  sake  ;  for  their's  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.  Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile  you 
and  persecute  you,  and  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you 
falsely  for  My  sake.  Rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad  :  for 
great  is  your  reward  in  heaven  ;  for  so  persecuted  they  the 
prophets  which  were  before  you."  When  any  spirit  re- 
newed by  the  Spirit  of  God  has  this  happiness,  which  we 
call  blessedness,  although  the  surroundings  may  be  painful, 
such  a  spirit  will  in  God's  time  come  right  out  of  what 
now  cramps  and  stifles  it,  it  will  come  right  out  of  dark- 
ness, it  will  come  out  of  sorrow,  out  of  fear,  stainless  out 
of  slander,  and  will  share  the  very  happiness  of  God 
Himself,  and  will  know  from  its  own  experience  something 
of  God's  purity. 

II.  What  does  the  "joyful  sound  "  spoken  of  in  the  verse 
mean  ?  What  is  it  ?  We  read  "  Blessed  is  the  people  that 
know  the  joyful  sound  ;  they  shall  walk,  O  Lord,  in  the 
light  of  Thy  countenance."  Take  the  whole  phrase — what 
are  we  to  understand  by  the  "joyful  sound"  ?  The  "joy- 
ful sound  "  is  a  phrase  that  had  original   reference  to  the 


128  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

sound  of  the  trumpet  which  was  then  used  to  summon  the 
people  to  service,  to  sound  for  service  as  the  bell  is  used  in 
more  modern  times.  You  have  the  commandment  in  the 
tenth  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Numbers.  It  begins  thus — 
"  And  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  Make  thee  two 
trumpets  of  silver  ;  of  a  whole  piece  shalt  thou  make  them  : 
that  thou  mayest  use  them  for  the  calling  of  the  assembly, 
and  for  the  journeying  of  the  camps.  And  when  they  shall 
blow  with  them,  all  the  assembly  shall  assemble  themselves 
to  thee  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation." 
To  the  mind  of  the  Jew  there  was  the  very  soul  of  joy  in 
the  sound  of  the  trumpet.  It  suggested  jubilee  day  ;  on 
the  morning  of  the  jubilee  day  there  was  the  offering  of 
the  atonement,  and  the  first  sound  of  the  jubilee  trumpet 
notified  that  the  sacrifice  had  been  paid.  "  In  the  day  of 
your  gladness,"  it  was  said,  "  and  in  your  solemn  days,  and 
in  the  beginnings  of  your  months,  ye  shall  blow  with  the 
trumpets  over  your  burnt  offerings,  and  over  the  sacrifices 
of  your  peace  offerings."  The  sound  of  the  trumpet  signi- 
fied the  finish.  When  the  priest  had  completed  the  atone- 
ment there  was  a  blast  from  the  trumpet.  A  "joyful 
sound  "  it  was,  and  then  the  trumpeter  posted  further  on, 
took  up  the  strain,  and  it  went  on  from  man  to  man  till  all 
the  land  was  alive  with  this  joyful  sound. 

III.  Do  we  know  what  this  joyful  sound  is  ?  It  is  not 
"  blessed  are  the  people  who  hear,"  but  the  people  who 
knozu.  It  must  be  the  people  who  know  what  the  joyful 
sound  proclaims — the  knowledge  which  brings  with  it 
flashes  of  realization.  Do  we  know  really,  know  in  our 
hearts,  what  this  meant  typically.  If  we  do  know  that, 
that  on  the  day  of  the  Atonement  it  was  done  for  us,  then 
we  have  the  blessedness  of  the  people  who  know  the  joy- 
ful sound.  O  brethren,  do  you  know  that  Jesus  Christ 
has  done  all  that  is  necessary  to  be  done  as  the  basis 
of  your  life  everlasting  ?  I  am  not  speaking  about  intel- 
lectual knowledge,  not  about  the  knowledge  of  theory, 
but  the  knowledge  I  have  just  briefly  explained — do 
you  know  that?  Do  you  know  the  words  of  the  man 
who  said  "  What  shall  I  do,  that  I  may  inherit  eternal 
life  ?  "  Do  you  from  the  depths  of  your  own  conscious- 
ness know  that  it  is  done  for  you,  done  for  ever  ?  Do  you 
know  that  as  the  man  once  sentenced  to  death  knows  the 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  129 

pardon  when  he  has  the  Queen's  letter  giving  the  pardon 
placed  in  his  hand  ?  Do  you  know  that  as  the  slave  knows 
the  land  of  the  free,  when,  hearing  the  dogs  and  the  lash 
behind  him,  he  reaches  it  ? 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  David's  standard  when  he 
uttered  these  words.  He  had  in  his  mind  perhaps  some 
jubilee  day.  He  had  heard,  perhaps  in  memory,  the  sound 
of  the  jubilee  trumpet.  He  saw  a  man  in  yonder  field 
when  he  heard  that  sound  at  once  drop  his  tools  ;  he  had 
entered  into  rest.  Oh,  happy  was  that  man,  for  he  knew 
the  joyful  sound  ;  and  there  was  another  man  whom  the 
note  of  the  trumpet  told  that  he  was  free  instead  of  being 
a  bondman  ;  and  there  was  another  man  who  had  lost  his 
property,  but  who,  hearing  the  trumpet  note,  knew  he  had 
got  it  again.  But  David  could  not  have  limited  his  mean- 
ing to  the  mere  material  type.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
he  knew  all  about  the  fulfilment  of  prophecy,  but  I  do 
mean  to  say  that  his  face  was  fixed  on  the  great  Saviour 
who  was  to  fulfil  prophecy  and  to  fulfil  this  type  ;  and  now, 
in  this  day,  we  have  the  fulfilment  of  this  ancient  typical 
figure.  The  Gospel  proclaims  the  fact  that  the  jubilee  is 
now  ours,  that  we  may  if  we  will  have  rest  and  go  free 
and  be  delivered  from  our  debts.  Do  we  know  this,  do  we 
know  this  joyful  sound  from  our  own  comprehension  ?  Do 
we  grasp  the  things  which  this  sound  notifies,  do  we  rejoice 
in  the  liberty  of  this  sound  to-night  ?  It  is  our  own  privi- 
lege and  if  we  do  not  take  it  as  such  we  cannot  say  we 
know  the  joyful  sound. 

IV.  "Blessed  is  the  people  that  know  the  joyful  sound." 
The  people  redeemed,  the  people,  especially,  typified  as 
God's.  This  trumpet  sound  was  nothing  to  other  people  ; 
the  Philistine  robber  would  have  heard  it,  but  it  was 
nothing  to  him — to  him  there  was  no  joyful  sound  in  it ; 
and  the  Amalekite  and  the  Egyptian  would  have  heard 
it,  but  without  the  joyful  sound.  Perhaps  there  may  be 
some  here  to-night  who  do  not  know  the  joy  of  this 
sound,  who  hear  the  Gospel  but  to  whom  there  is  no  joyful 
sound  therein. 

V.  We  are  led  on  to  another  section  of  the  phrase, 
"  Blessed  is  the  people  that  know  the  joyful  sound  ;  they 
shall  walk,  O  Lord,  in  the  light  of  Thy  countenance."  This 
is  an  advance  from  the  first-named  thought.     It  is  a  favour- 

K 


130  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

ite  expression  of  poetry.  Do  we  understand  it  ?  Some 
expressions  have  become  so  familiar  that  I  think  we  have 
lost  the  sense  of  their  brightness.  "  The  light  of  the  coun- 
tenance," I  think  you  understand  that.  You  look  into  some 
countenance  and  you  see  a  shadow,  a  frown,  and  in  that 
countenance  you  see  a  light  at  some  especial  times.  There 
is  surely  light  in  the  father's  countenance  when  he  sees 
his  son  has  stood  the  test  of  some  temptation  or  has  got 
through  with  honour  some  college  examinations.  You 
have  seen  the  dying  face,  you  have  seen  the  face  with  the 
shadow  of  the  grave  upon  it,  and  you  have  thought  perhaps 
there  was  no  more  expression  to  be  lighted  up  ;  but  there 
is  a  light  in  that  countenance  when  some  loved  one  comes 
into  the  room.  Only  think  of  this  :  there  is  light  in  the 
countenance  of  God  at  the  thought  of  those  who  have  be- 
lieved in  Jesus  Christ !  If  you  have  come  back  after  your 
wandering  and  look  up  to  His  face  you  will  see  a  light  in 
His  countenance.  If  you  feel  you  are  not  speaking  to 
empty  space  but  to  a  living,  loving  Father,  you  will  realize 
by  faith  that  there  is  a  light  in  His  countenance  when  you 
come  to  His  throne. 

The  elements  of  wonder  belong  to  the  Redemption. 
The  more  we  know  about  that  the  more  we  wonder.  We 
are  told  that  wonder  is  an  element  of  ignorance.  But 
what  a  wonderful  thing  it  is  to  have  God  as  our  friend,  to 
know  more  than  the  prophets,  to  have  a  right  to  the  privi- 
lege of  His  love.  It  is  joyful  beyond  our  power  of  expres- 
sion, and  if  we  were  not  so  taken  up  with  self  that  we  did 
not  understand  what  we  have  to  make  us  happy,  when  we 
realize  that  the  joyful  sound  is  ours  we  should  with  feelings 
of  deepest  thankfulness  accept  an  inheritance  that  fadeth 
not  away.  But  I  am  speaking  to  Christians  and  yet  a  cold 
shadow  comes  over  me — not  a  mere  passing  shadow,  but 
something  that  is  a  damp  on  happy  feelings  and  hopes — 
that  friends  whom  I  love  do  not  care  for  the  things  I  love, 
that  they  cannot  know  this  joyful  sound.  You  know  about 
the  arts,  you  know  about  science,  you  know  these  things  ; 
but  some  of  you  do  not  yet  know  the  joyful  sound,  the  one 
thing  needful  which  you  must  know  or  die  without  putting 
the  matter  to  a  test. 

What  do  you  say  now  ?  Jesus  Christ  is  proclaimed,  and 
the  statement  is  made  to  you  that  if  you  will  by  trusting 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  131 


Christ  have  freedom  from  your  spiritual  debts,  if  you  will 
have  liberty  from  your  spiritual  bondage,  you  can  have 
it.  Accept  God's  offering.  Now  what  will  you  do  ?  Is  it 
"  yes,"  or  "  no  "  ?  The  question  would  never  balance  be- 
tween yes,  or  no,  if  men  weary  were  offered  rest,  if  men 
were  offered  freedom  from  material  debts,  if  men  were 
offered  wealth  instead  of  poverty  ;  if  men  were  offered 
material  freedom  instead  of  slavery  there  would  be  no 
question  as  to  yes,  or  no.  Would  any  person  say,  "  I  do 
not  want  rest,  I  will  keep  my  poverty,  I  will  keep  my 
debt  "  ?  Would  any  one  say  that  ?  But  when  this  ques- 
tion is  put  to  you  about  spiritual  things  there  is  a  disposi- 
tion to  wait  and  to  say  "  I  will  think  about  it.  I  will  turn 
it  over  in  my  mind.  I  shall  come  to  your  terms,  but  not 
now."  I  know  that  some  of  you  are  inwardly  saying 
that ;  but  if  so,  you  cannot  know  the  joyful  sound,  and  walk 
in  the  light  of  God's  countenance.  And  now  may  God  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  make  you  to  see  the  truth  and  believe  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  make  you  willing  to  accept  that 
which  is  offered  to  you  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  now. 

C.  S. 

LXXI.      Religion    and    Science.     Ps.  xc.  2.     "From 
everlasting  to  everlasting.  Thou  art  God." 

That  true  religion  and  true  science  are  essentially  one  in 
aim  and  spirit  there  should  be  no  doubt.  But  it  is  equally 
beyond  doubt  that  through  faults  and  mistakes  in  their 
votaries,  though  not  in  themselves,  they  find  themselves 
upon  a  battle-ground,  eyeing  each  other  with  jealous  looks, 
instead  of  together,  like  two  sisters,  raising  a  wistful  eye 
towards  heaven  and  deriving  a  common  love-light  from 
the  fountain  of  common  truth.  The  men  of  science  say 
"  we  don't  say  there  is  no  God  ;  but  we  have  not  weighed 
and  analysed  Him  yet,  so  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  Him, 
and  have  no  name  to  give  or  homage  to  present  to  Him." 
We  say,  "  we  don't  say  that  matter  is  not  life,  but  we  do 
say  that  God  is  the  life  of  matter  and  the  author  of  law, 
and  the  source  and  manager  of  all  phenomena,  and  light 
alike  of  science  and  religion,  and  we  believe  in  Him."  The 
search  in  the  one  case  is  for  the  dead-cold  "  It  is";  in  the 
other  for  the  living  and  eternal  "  I  am." 


132  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

There  are  certain  germ-truths  which  a  finite  mind  must 
accept  upon  some  authority  or  other  before  it  can  reason  at 
all.  And  this  germ-truth  surely  must  be  an  intelligent  and 
wise  First  Cause  behind  all  the  laws  and  the  life  which  we 
experience  and  behold.  There  is  but  one  key-word  by 
which  the  sentry  at  the  Eden-gate  of  knowledge  may  be 
challenged  and  the  door  of  hope  flung  open,  and  that  word 
is  "faith."  When  man  ceased  to  trust  in  his  desire  to 
know,  what  was  it  that  he  discovered  ?  Just  what  our 
learned  men  fling  at  us  as  a  novelty  to-day — Materialism. 
He  saw  the  dust  of  which  he  was  made  and  knew  that  he 
was  naked.  And  the  effect  of  the  knowledge  was  to  cover 
him  with  shame.  It  is  only  a  return  to  the  simplicity 
of  faith  that  can  hide  his  shame  behind  a  righteousness 
Divine.  It  is  contrary  to  the  whole  genius  of  Christianity 
to  suggest  restrictions  to  the  researches  of  man  or  to  put 
any  superstitious  or  arbitrary  check  on  the  independence 
of  the  mind.  Every  stipulation  which  He  makes  is  founded 
in  a  deeper  philosophy  than  the  schools  have  ever  yet  set 
forth.  It  is  not  the  hysteric  of  emotion  or  the  sob  of  sen- 
timent, but  the  fiat  of  a  common  sense  which  insists  that 
there  must  be  faith  before  thought  can  have  a  basis,  and 
that  before  man  can  be  taught  he  must  have  a  living  teacher. 

Search  the  world  as  God's  world  and  the  God  who  made 
it  shall  reveal  its  mysteries.  Fool  and  fanatic !  shouts 
the  wisdom  of  the  world  ;  but  still  I  stand  beside  the  cross 
and  say  the  nursery  creed,  as  the  creed  also  of  my  death- 
bed at  the  end  :  "  I  believe  in  God  the  Father  Almighty, 
Maker  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  in  Jesus  Christ,  His  only 
Son,  my  Lord." 

A.  Mu. 

LXXII.      The    Extension    of  the    Kingdom.      Ps. 

cii.  15.     "So  the  heathen  shall  fear  the  name  of  the  Lord,  a?id 
all  the  kings  of  the  earth  Thy  glory." 

A  GREAT  injustice  is  often  done  to  the  Jewish  religion. 
It  is  spoken  of  as  if  it  were  a  selfish  and  exclusive  religion, 
never  passing  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Jewish  people,  and 
providing  a  law  and  a  worship  which  not  only  ignored 
but  positively  excluded  all  the  myriads  of  the  human 
race  not  descended  from  Israel.     Even  Jehovah  Himself  is 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  133 

spoken  of  as  "the  God  of  the  Jewish  people"  in  as  local  and 
as  limited  a  sense  as  Jupiter  or  Zeus  was  the  god  of  Rome  or 
of  Greece.  The  text  is  a  sufficient  refutation  of  this  utter 
misconception  of  the  true  spirit  and  genius  of  Judaism. 
Here  is  the  psalmist — whom  we  know  not — suddenly 
breaking  away  from  the  load  of  trouble  and  of  care  that 
was  oppressing  him,  and  rising  to  the  sublime  thought  of 
the  unchangeable  mercy  and  goodness  of  God.  And  as  he 
dwells  on  the  greatness  of  this  truth,  he  sees  in  it  a  pledge 
and  a  prophecy  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  desolations  and 
grief  which  now  afflict  God's  people,  a  time  of  blessing 
and  of  prosperity  is  at  hand.  Because  God  changes  not, 
therefore  His  promises  to  His  people  cannot 4be  broken. 
"  Thou  shalt  arise,"  the  psalmist  sings,  "  and  have  mercy 
upon  Zion  ;  for  the  time  to  favour  her,  yea,  the  set  time, 
is  come."  The  complete  forgetfulness  of  his  own  afflic- 
tion ;  its  absorption  in  the  thought  of  the  coming  day  of 
Zion,  is  not  the  most  remarkable  thing  here :  it  is  the  way 
in  which  the  writer  of  the  psalm  goes  on  to  declare  the 
true  purpose  and  meaning  of  this  restoration  of  Zion  that 
is  most  astonishing  :  "  So  the  heathen  shall  fear  the  name 
of  Jehovah,  and  all  the  kings  of  the  earth  Thy  glory."  All 
that  is  greatest  and  best  in  the  missionary  spirit  of  the 
Gospel  itself  could  hardly  be  expressed  in  fuller  or  more 
emphatic  words. 

I.  This  world-wide  extension  of  the  kingdom  and 
mercy  of  God  fills  the  thought  of  the  psalmist  as  he  sings. 
Not  his  own  chosen  nation  alone,  but  "  the  people  which 
shall  be  created  shall  praise  the  Lord  ; "  not  his  own 
personal  griefs  alone,  but  "  the  earth  "  hath  Jehovah  be- 
held, "  to  hear  the  groaning  of  the  prisoner,  to  loose  those 
that  are  appointed  to  death."  And  finally,  when  the 
"name  of  Jehovah"  is  declared  "in  Zion,  and  His  praise 
in  Jerusalem,"  then  shall  "the  people  be  gathered  together, 
and  the  kingdoms  to  serve  Jehovah." 

Now  this  psalm,  or  this  text,  is  by  no  means  singular 
in  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  Those  who  have  never  read 
them,  with  this  thought  in  view,  would  be  astonished  to 
find  how  repeated  and  copious  are  the  references  to  the 
coming  of  a  time  when  even  Judaism  itself  shall  pass  away. 
and  be  absorbed  into  the  vaster  kingdom  that  the  Lord 
God  should  set  up  in  the  earth.     Here  are  two  passages 


134  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

taken  from  a  multitude  of  others  like  them  :  "  The  earth 
shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters 
cover  the  sea  ;  and  in  that  day  there  shall  be  a  root  of 
Jesse,  which  shall  stand  for  an  ensign  to  the  people  ;  to  it 
shall  the  Gentiles  seek  ;  and  his  rest  shall  be  glorious  " 
(Isa.  xi.  9,  10)  ;  and  this:  "All  the  earth  shall  worship 
Thee,  and  shall  sing  unto  Thee  ;  they  shall  sing  to  Thy 
name  "  (Ps.  lxvi.  4).  It  is  hardly  fair,  after  this,  to  speak  of 
the  narrowness  and  exclusiveness  of  the  Jewish  religion  ; 
that  is,  if  we  may  judge  at  all  from  what  its  authorised 
expounders,  both  psalmists  and  prophets,  have  told  us 
about  it. 

II.  But  i4  is  also  worthy  of  notice  that  wherever  this 
extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God  to  all  the  earth  is  referred 
to  in  the  Old  Testament,  it  is  spoken  of  as  springing  from 
the  new  glory  and  prosperity  to  be  given  to  Jerusalem 
itself.  It  is  so  in  the  psalm  from  which  the  text  is  taken, 
as  we  have  seen ;  when  "  Zion  "  is  favoured,  then  "  the 
heathen  shall  fear  the  name  of  Jehovah,  and  all  the  kings 
of  the  earth  Thy  glory ; "  and  it  is  so  all  through  ; 
Jerusalem  is  to  be  made  "  a  praise  in  the  earth,"  and 
"  salvation  "  is  to  be  "  of  the  Jews." 

III.  These  are  the  watchwords  of  Old  Testament 
prophecy,  and  they  have  a  double  lesson  for  us.  First 
of  all,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  Christianity  itself  was  born  in 
Judaea  ;  Christ  was,   "  according  to  the  flesh,"  an  Israelite  ; 

(:  Christ's  first  apostles  were  all  Israelites  ;  and  Christ's  first 
Church  was  set  up  on  Jewish  soil,  with  Jewish  disciples 
as  its  members.  So  far,  then,  these  ancient  predictions 
have  vindicated  themselves,  but  there  is  yet  another  and 
a  still  richer  fulfilment  which  they  are  to  have.  The 
Church  of  Christ  has  inherited  both  the  glories  and  the 
responsibilities  of  the  Jewish  Church  ;  the  Jerusalem  which 
is  from  above  has  taken  the  place  of  the  Jerusalem  which 
was  below,  and  therefore  all  the  increase  of  the  kingdom 
of  God,  which  has  been  declared  to  depend  on  the  pros- 
perity of  Zion,  now  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the 
Church.  This  is  the  true  lesson  those  who  are  in  Christ's 
Church  need  to  lay  to  heart.  Whether  Israel  will  ever 
be  restored  to  its  ancient  glory  in  its  own  land  or  not, 
may  be  a  question  admitting  of  different  answers.  But 
of  this  there  is  no  doubt  whatsoever,  that  for  us  the  pro- 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  135 


gress  of  Christianity  among  men  depends  on  the  spiritual 
life  and  energy  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Where  there  is 
a  dead  Church  the  missionary  spirit  will  be  dead  too, 
and  the  moment  it  begins  to  live  its  missionary  enterprise 
will  return. 

Parents  and  teachers  could  hardly  do  their  children  a 
greater  service  than  by  making  them  feel,  even  from  their 
earliest  years,  that  the  life  and  glory  of  Christianity  depend 
on  the  missionary  work  it  is  doing  in  the  world. 

G.  S.  B. 

LXXIII.  Prayer  for  a  Complete  Life  and  its 
Plea.  Ps.  cii.  24.  "I  said,  O  my  God,  take  me  not 
away  in  the  midst  of  my  days :  Thy  years  are  throughout  all 
generations" 

THIS  is  a  prayer  which  springs  from  the  bosom  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  it  bears  the  impress  of  its  time.  Life  and 
immortality  had  not  yet  been  brought  to  light,  and  long 
life  in  the  land  which  the  Lord  their  God  had  given  them, 
was  a  special  promise  made  to  these  ancient  saints. 

The  prayer  looks  to  that  promise.  It  is  a  request  for 
a  complete  life.  The  wish  is  submitted  to  the  will  of  God  ; 
for  the  man  is  a  believer,  and  is  ready  to  accept  life  in  the 
form  in  which  God  orders  it.  He  feels  that  there  can  be 
no  real  life  without  God,  but  that  with  Him  it  is  certain 
to  have  a  perfect  and  happy  issue.  In  such  a  prayer,  then, 
a  future  and  eternal  life  is  implied. 

When  the  Gospel  comes  and  shows  us  eternal  life  in 
Jesus,  it  merely  unfolds  into  flower  and  fruit  the  germ 
which  is  already  contained  here. 

I.  When  is  it  that  a  life  may  be  said  to  be  complete  ? 
While  length  of  life  in  this  world  is  not  the  chief  blessing 
of  the  New  Testament,  there  is  nothing  wrong  in  desiring 
it.  The  love  of  life  is  natural,  and  length  of  days  is  a 
gift  to  be  employed  in  God's  service, — the  woof  on  which 
a  good  man  may  weave  valuable  material  and  many  rich 
and  fair  colours.  But  even  in  the  Old  Testament  there 
is  the  lesson  that  a  complete  life  does  not  need  to  be  a 
prolonged  one  ;  the  very  first  death  recorded,  that  of  Abel 
the  righteous,  was  sudden  and  premature. 

(1)  The  first  thing  needed  to  gain  a  complete  life  is  that 


136  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

a  man  should  have  secured  God's  favour.  Whensoever  a 
man  dies  without  this  he  is  taken  away  in  the  midst  of 
his  days,  hurried  out  of  existence  before  he  has  secured 
its  one  grand  prize.  If  God's  favour  has  been  gained 
he  can  rejoice  in  the  blessed  equality  of  all  who  reach  it. 
"  The  child  dies  an  hundred  years  old,"  the  youth  comes 
to  his  grave  "  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a  shock  of  corn  cometh 
in  in  his  season." 

(2)  A  complete  life  has  this  in  it,  that  it  has  done  God 
and  His  world  some  service.  We  are  here  not  merely  to 
find  God's  favour,  but  to  do  God's  work.  Therefore  there 
are  degrees  of  completeness  even  in  Christian  lives.  They 
all  reach  the  haven,  but  some  of  them  with  fuller  sail 
and  richer  freight  The  salvation  in  the  great  day  will 
be  to  all  God's  people  of  free  grace,  and  yet  we  must 
believe  that  its  rest  will  be  sweeter  to  the  wearied  labourer 
and  the  enjoyment  greater  to  him  who  brings  home  sheaves 
which  are  the  fruit  of  tears  and  toil. 

(3)  A  complete  life  should  close  with  submission  to  the 
call  of  God  ;  warm  hearts  and  active  natures  are  sometimes 
so  interested  in  the  friends  and  work  around  them  that  it 
is  hard  to  find  an  open  place  for  parting.  The  speaker 
in  this  psalm  felt  it  so.  This  submission  may  be  gained 
through  the  long  experience  of  the  Christian  life  ;  it  may 
be  witnessed  also  in  those  who  close  their  eyes  on  a  beauti- 
ful dawn  or  bright  noon  day  as  unrepiningly  as  if  they 
had  seen  all  God's  goodness  in  the  land  of  the  living. 
There  is  a  dew  of  youth  that  exhales  in  sunlight,  and  there 
is  a  dew  of  nightfall  that  waits  for  the  morning.  It  comes 
like  God's  dew,  always  from  a  clear  sky,  and  tells  of  His 
completed  work. 

(4)  A  complete  life  looks  forward  to  a  continued  life 
with  God.  There  are  many  bitter  farewells  in  our  world 
but  we  can  bear  them  all  if  we  do  not  need  to  bid  fare- 
well to  God.  Our  night  taper  lasts  long  enough  if  it  lets 
in  the  eternal  day. 

II.  The  plea  for  a  complete  life  which  this  prayer  con- 
tains. The  psalmist  contrasts  his  days  with  God's  years, 
his  being  cut  off  in  the  midst  of  his  days  with  those  years 
that  are  throughout  all  generations.  There  is  deep  pathos 
in  it ;  a  sense  of  his  own  frailty  and  evanescence,  and  yet 
in  the  heart  of  it  there  is  faith  and  hope. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  137 

(1)  The  eternal  life  of  God  suggests  the  thought  of  His 
power  to  grant  this  request. 

(2)  It  suggests  the  thought  of  His  immutability,  to  secure 
the  request.  The  unchangeableness  of  God  in  the  midst 
of  all  life's  changes  is  a  deep  source  of  comfort.  Those 
ancient  saints  dwelt  upon  it  and  were  made  strong  by  this 
thought. 

(3)  It  suggests  His  Divine  consistency  as  an  encourage- 
ment to  this  request.  He  has  done  so  much  that  we  may 
infer  He  will  do  still  more.  Will  not  the  Being  who 
formed  me  capable  of  conceiving  of  all  immortality,  grant 
me  the  immortality  which  is  the  indispensable  requisite  to 
the  unity  and  completness  of  my  being  ? 

(4)  It  is  a  plea  for  this  request  because  it  suggests  the 
Divine  compassion  for  us.  Those  men  who  think  they 
exalt  God  by  making  Him  indifferent  to  humanity  are  as 
far  wrong  in  their  philosophy  as  in  their  divinity.  Great 
natures  are  made  not  more  limited  by  their  greatness,  but 
more  comprehensive  ;  and  the  eternity  of  God  does  not 
shut  out  the  thoughts  and  trials  of  human  lives,  but  brings 
them  more  within  His  merciful  regard. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  ask  myself,  can  I  say  that  death 
shall  find  my  life  thus  complete  ?  There  is  but  one  way 
of  assurance.  It  is  through  laying  hold  of  that  Saviour 
of  whom  it  is  said  "  ye  are  complete  in  Him,"  who  offers 
Himself  freely  to  our  acceptance  with  the  words,  "  He  that 
findeth  Me,  findeth  life,  and  shall  obtain  favour  of  the 
Lord  ?  " 

J.  K. 


LXXIV.     God's   Benefits.     Ps.  ciii.  2.      «  Bless  the  Lord, 
O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all  His  benefits." 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  we  can  forget  nothing.  No 
fact  seems  more  certainly  established  by  modern  biological 
science,  than  that  each  event  as  it  happened  to  us  in  the 
past  has  left  its  own  record  behind,  a  permanent  memorial 
of  itself  graven  into  the  very  substance  of  the  brain.  The 
path  of  life  we  have  trodden  has  not  been  like  the  path  of 
a  ship  crossing  the  sea,  the  marks  of  which  are  obliterated 
as  soon  as  they  are  made,  but  it  is  rather  like  the  path  of 


1 38  OUTLINES   ON    THE 

a  traveller  over  a  field  of  newly-fallen  snow,  on  which 
every  footstep  has  left  its  print.  So  our  past,  each  step  of 
the  way,  the  thoughts  and  words  and  deeds  which  have 
made  up  our  life,  the  mercies  and  the  sins,  have  all  left 
their  own  separate  footprints  behind,  and  memory  is  only 
the  soul  turning  for  a  little  while  to  gaze  on  the  footmarks 
we  have  thus  left  behind  us.  In  this  sense  we  can  forget 
nothing.  The  way  is  always  there.  But  the  light  may 
have  faded  from  the  path  and  it  be  hidden  in  darkness,  or 
we  may  be  so  occupied  with  pressing  on  the  path  that  lies 
before  us  as  to  have  no  leisure  to  turn  and  ponder  the  past, 
and  in  this  sense  we  may  forget  it.  And  it  is  one  of  the 
sad  perversities  of  our  human  nature  that  we  forget  most 
quickly  the  things  we  ought  to  remember,  and  remember 
longest  the  things  we  ought  to  forget.  How  easily,  for 
instance,  we  have  forgotten  the  special  mercies  we  have 
received  from  God,  and  how  readily  we  can  recall  the  ills 
we  may  have  suffered.  Let  any  one  look  back  on  the  year 
that  is  gone,  and  he  will  find  that  the  things  which  rise  up 
prominently  in  the  past  are  not  the  ceaseless  mercies  God 
has  shown  to  him,  mercies  which  have  come  with  the 
regularity  and  gentleness  of  the  morning  light,  "blessings 
unasked,  unsought,"  that  have  entered  his  door  ;  but  the 
disappointments,  the  sufferings,  the  injuries,  it  may  be,  he 
has  endured.  One  week's  illness  is  far  fresher  in  our  me- 
mory than  fifty-one  weeks  of  unbroken  health.  We  do 
not  "  write  our  injuries  in  the  sand,  and  our  kindnesses  on 
the  marble  ; "  we  write  our  mercies  on  the  sand,  and  to- 
morrow's tide  obliterates  the  record,  whilst  too  often  we 
grave  our  misfortunes,  as  with  a  pen  of  iron,  on  the  rock. 

I.  Now  one  result  of  this  melancholy  perversity  of 
memory  in  remembering  what  it  ought  to  forget,  and  in 
forgetting  what  it  ought  to  remember,  is  seen  in  the 
prevalence  of  the  sin  of  ingratitude  to  God.  We  lose  all 
recollection  of  the  mercies  of  God  almost  as  soon  as  they 
have  been  enjoyed,  and  our  gratitude  is  as  short-lived  as 
our  memory.  We  do  not  "  bless  the  Lord,"  simply  because 
we  forget  all  his  benefits. 

II.  And  yet,  common  as  this  sin  of  ingratitude  un- 
happily is,  there  is  no  sin  we  more  unsparingly  condemn 
in  other  people  than  the  want  of  a  grateful  spirit,  or  more 
indignantly  resent   when  the  ingratitude  happens    to    be 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  139 

shown  to  ourselves.  Even  when  we  confer  a  kindness  upon 
a  friend  who  is  an  equal  in  social  position,  we  look  for  some 
recognition  of  our  kindness  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  the 
warmth  of  our  friendship  undergoes  a  sensible  chill  if  we 
fail  to  find  it.  Still  more  keenly  do  we  resent  ingratitude 
when  the  favour  is  conferred  on  an  inferior  who  has  no 
special  claims  on  us,  but  who  nevertheless  receives  our 
kindnesses  with  complete  indifference,  as  if  he  were  en- 
titled to  them.  We  are  apt  to  express  our  astonishment  at 
such  conduct  in  strong  language,  and  to  resolve,  inwardly 
at  any  rate,  we  will  attempt  no  more  kindnesses  in  that 
direction.  But  if  we  would  see  indignation  or  ingratitude 
at  white  heat,  we  must  look  for  it  when  it  witnesses  the 
ingratitude  of  our  enemy.  If  at  the  cost  of  considerable 
moral  effort  we  have  succeeded  in  quenching  our  natural 
hatred  of  some  one  who  has  deliberately  injured  us ;  if, 
instead  of  returning  evil  for  evil,  we  have  done  him  an  act 
of  real  and  undeserved  kindness,  and  if,  in  spite  of  every- 
thing, he  receives  a  kindness  with  supercilious  indifference, 
manifesting  neither  gratitude  nor  appreciation  of  what  we 
have  done,  then  our  disgust  and  indignation  know  no 
bounds.  Such  ingratitude  is  not  a  fault — it  is  a  crime.  It 
is  worse  than  brutal,  for  even  the  dogs  lick  the  hand  that 
fondles  them — it  is  devilish.  It  warrants  the  conclusion,  so 
we  say,  that  neither  heart  nor  conscience  is  left  in  such  a 
man  ;  both  are  turned  to  stone. 

III.  All  possibly  true,  but  how  seldom  we  pause  to  think 
that  in  thus  condemning  another  we  may  be  really  con- 
demning ourselves.  The  mercies  God  has  shown  to  us 
have  been  mercies  bestowed  not  on  an  equal,  not  simply 
on  a  creature  infinitely  inferior  to  Him,  but  on  those  who 
once  at  least  were  "  enemies  by  reason  of  wicked  works." 
The  very  first  "  benefit "  the  Psalmist  reminds  himself  he 
has  received  is  this,  "  Who  forgiveth  all  thine  iniquities  ; " 
and  it  is  this  fact,  that  all  through  the  year  God  has  been 
ceaselessly  blessing  us  who  have  as  ceaselessly  been  sin- 
ning against  Him  that  makes  His  mercy  and  our  ingrati 
tude  so  wonderful.  If  we  take  this  one  thought  with  us  in 
our  review  of  a  year,  and  remember,  not  only  "all  God's 
benefits,"  but  how  sadly  unworthy  of  them  all  we  have 
been,  perhaps  we  shall  begin  to  "  bless  "  Him  for  them  as 
we  have  never  yet  done. 


140  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

IV.  Only  let  us  remember  there  will  be  no  gratitude  so 
long  as  we  look  only  at  our  own  unworthiness.  The  old 
story  of  the  statue  of  Memnon  in  the  desert  may  teach  us 
a  lesson.  All  through  the  hours  of  the  night  it  sat  there 
motionless  and  dumb,  but  as  soon  as  the  light  of  the  rising 
sun  smote  upon  it,  and  it  felt  the  warmth  of  his  rays,  its 
stony  lips  began  to  move  and  it  broke  into  music.  Just  so 
our  lips  and  our  heart  are  dumb  whilst  the  darkness  of  our 
own  sin  surrounds  us,  but  the  moment  the  light  of  God's 
great  love  falls  upon  them,  they  begin  to  utter  his  praise. 
The  Hebrew  words  for  praise  and  for  light  are  very  nearly 
connected.  We  sing  "Hallelujah"  only  as  the  bright 
shining  of  the  mercy  of  God  breaks  upon  us. 

G.  S.  B. 


LXXV.     The    Spread    of  Christianity.     Ps.  cv.  24. 

"He  increased  His  people  greatly,  a?id  made  them  stronger  than 
their  enemies" 

The  children  of  Israel  went  down  into  Egypt  numbering 
"  seventy  souls  ;  "  they  left  Egypt,  according  to  exodus 
xii.  37,  numbering  "  600,000  on  foot  that  were  men,"  and  if 
we  add  to  this  number  the  women  and  children,  there  must 
have  been  more  than  two  millions  who  made  the  exodus 
under  Moses.  A  second  account  in  the  Book  of  Numbers 
(chap.  i.  46),  which  states  that  at  the  numbering  of  the 
people  at  Sinai  there  were  603,550  males  of  twenty  years 
old  and  upwards,  substantially  confirms  this  enormous 
increase.  Now  it  is  well  known  that  this  extraordinary 
multiplication  of  the  original  "  seventy  souls  "  during  the 
stay  of  Israel  in  Egypt — whether  we  reckon  that  stay  at 
the  longer  period  of  430  years,  or,  as  seems  most  probable, 
only  allow  them  2 1 5  years  for  their  residence  there — has  long 
been  one  of  the  standing  difficulties  of  the  Old  Testament 
history.  Without  discussing  the  trustworthiness  of  the 
numbers,  or  the  explanations  which  have  been  given  to 
account  for  them,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  they  are 
accepted  as  correct,  and  defended  by  Ewald  himself,  the 
greatest  authority  in  the  modern  rationalistic  school  of 
criticism  in  Germany,  and  may  therefore  be  taken  as  at 
any  rate  not  so  indefensible  as  objectors  generally  assume. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  141 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  also,  that  the  history  itself  empha- 
sises the  multiplication  of  Israel  in  Egypt  as  an  unusual 
and  extraordinary  fact,  and  provides  for  it  a  special  cause, 
the  peculiar  promise  made,  not  once,  but  over  and  over 
again,  to  Abraham,  that  God  would  "  multiply  his  seed  as 
the  stars  of  heaven,  and  as  the  sand  which  is  upon  the 
seashore"  (Gen.  xxii.  17);  for  it  is  a  distinctive  feature 
of  the  Divine  reasonableness  of  the  Bible  history,  that  it 
never  asks  us  to  believe  in  a  supernatural  wonder,  without 
at  the  same  time  justifying  its  appearance  by  an  adequate 
cause. 

I.  The  lesson  that  we  may  learn  from  the  text  is  in- 
dependent altogether  of  the  results  of  modern  criticism. 
Whatever  deductions  may  be  made  from  the  numbers  of 
the  Book  of  Exodus  by  the  most  hostile  critic,  the  fact 
still  remains  to  be  accounted  for,  that  a  small  and  obscure 
tribe  not  only  rapidly  multiplied  into  a  great  nation,  but 
became  one  of  the  mightiest  powers,  if  not  the  mightiest, 
in  the  education  and  development  of  the  human  race.  A 
great  German  Emperor  once  asked  his  chaplain  for  a  short 
proof  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible.  "The  Jews,  your 
Majesty,"  was  the  chaplain's  answer  ;  and  he  was  right. 
Not  only  is  the  continued  existence  of  the  Jewish  people, 
dispersed  throughout  the  world,  in  it,  and  yet  in  a  sense 
not  of  it ;  "  present  in  every  country,  and  with  a  home  in 
none,  intermixed  and  yet  separated,"  one  of  the  standing 
miracles  of  history,  and  a  fact  to  which  there  is  no  parallel 
in  the  history  of  the  world  ;  but  the  influence  which  Jew- 
ish thought,  and  especially  Jewish  religious  thought,  has 
had  upon  mankind  is  at  this  moment  the  chief  factor  in 
the  moral  life  of  the  world.  Nor  is  it  the  least  remarkable 
peculiarity  of  the  Jewish  people  that  their  own  religious 
leaders,  their  psalmists  and  prophets,  have  from  the  very 
first  attributed  all  the  wonderful  growth  and  power  of  the 
nation,  not  to  themselves,  but  to  God.  No  other  people, 
in  the  authoritative  documents  of  its  history,  has  ever  so 
completely  renounced  all  ordinary  human  explanations  of 
its  prosperity,  as  the  Jews  have  done.  From  first  to  last 
they  have  given  but  one  reason  for  the  position  they  held 
in  the  world,  that  they  had  received  a  supernatural  revela- 
tion from  God,  and  had  been  chosen  from  all  the  nations 
to  be  His  peculiar  people.     The  inspiration  of  the  greatest 


142  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

psalms  in  the  Jewish  psalter  may  be  traced  back  to  this 
conviction  as  its  spring,  and  however  the  song  may  vary, 
it  recurs  again  and  again  to  this  faith  as  its  fundamental 
note. 

II.  We  believe  the  Christian  Church  has  now  inherited 
both  the  glory  and  the  responsibilities  of  the  Jewish  people, 
and  if  the  whole  of  the  past  history  of  Israel  was  a  type 
of  the  future  history  of  the  Church,  the  multiplication  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  and  their  influence  upon  the  world, 
are  but  a  prophecy  of  the  vaster  triumphs  of  that  King- 
dom which  is  now  set  up,  not  in  one  nation  alone,  but  in 
the  whole  earth. 

III.  The  true  ground  of  our  confidence  in  the  ultimate 
spread  of  Christianity  is  simply  this,  that  God  is  on  its 
side  and  therefore  it  must  finally  overcome  every  foe  to 
its  progress.  Truth  will  finally  prevail,  however  long  it 
may  seem  to  be  worsted  in  the  struggle  with  unbelief,  but 
it  will  prevail,  not  because  truth  by  itself  is  stronger  than 
error,  but  because  behind  all  truth  there  is  the  arm  of  the 
Eternal  God,  from  whom  truth  springs,  pledged  to  win  for 
it  the  victory.  And  when  its  last  triumph  has  been  won, 
and  "  all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  peoples,  and  tongues," 
stand  before  the  throne,  the  new  song  which  they  shall 
sing  shall  but  take  up  and  transfigure  the  ancient  song  of 
the  Jewish  Church,  "  He  increased  His  people,  and  made 
them  stronger  than  their  enemies." 

G.  S.  B. 


LXXVI.  Deliverance  from  Bondage.  Ps.  cvii.  14. 
"He  brought  them  out  of  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death, 
and  brake  their  bands  in  sunder." 

The  deliverance  of  Israel  from  Egypt  has  long  been 
regarded  by  the  Christian  Church  as  the  pregnant  and 
suggestive  image,  if  not  actually  the  prophecy,  of  its  own 
redemption  from  the  power  and  thraldom  of  sin.  In  the 
language  of  its  poetry  and  of  its  devotion,  Canaan  and 
Egypt  have  become  types — the  one  of  the  bondage,  the 
other  of  the  liberty,  of  the  children  of  God. 

I.  The  words  of  our  text,  although  primarily  referring  to 
the   exodus  from  Eg\'pt,  may  therefore   be  taken,  without 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  143 

doing  any  violence  to  their  meaning,  as  suggesting  the 
deliverance  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  accomplishes  for  the 
soul.  The  darkness  and  the  slavery  and  the  death  which 
Egypt  was  to  Israel,  sin  is  to  man,  and  it  is  from  these 
Christ  has  come  to  redeem  us. 

From  darkness,  first  of  all.  For  sin  is  darkness  as  well 
as  defilement.  The  soul  alienated  from  God  is  also  alien- 
ated from  the  truth.  The  head  as  well  as  the  heart  surfers. 
It  is  not  that  the  man  only  feels  wrong  about  God,  or  about 
himself,  or  about  his  relations  to  his  fellow-men  ;  he  thinks 
wrong  also  about  all  these  things.  "  The  truth  is  not  in 
him."  Now  the  redemption  Christ  accomplishes  has  for 
its  object  the  whole  man,  not  a  part  of  him  only.  It  has 
a  mission-to  his  intellect  as  well  as  to  his  conscience  and 
his  heart.  It  comes  to  put  his  thoughts,  quite  as  much  as 
his  actions,  right.  Christ  Himself  promised  His  disciples 
that  they  "  should  know  the  truth,"  and  He  declared  Him- 
self to  be  "  the  Light "  as  well  as  "  the  Life  "  of  men. 

It  follows  from  this  that  for  any  man,  however  learned 
or  able  he  may  be,  to  turn  away  from  Christ  is  to  turn 
away  from  what  is  true  in  thought  as  well  as  from  what 
is  supernatural  in  its  influence  on  the  life.  But  this  is  too 
often  denied  in  the  present  day.  Indeed,  it  is  frequently 
assumed  that  the  rejection  of  Christianity  is  sufficiently 
accounted  for  by  the  progress  of  intellectual  enlightenment, 
whereas  the  exact  contrary  is  the  fact.  To  turn  away  from 
Christ,  and  to  refuse  to  admit  His  claims,  is  a  sign,  not  of 
the  strength,  but  of  the  weakness  of  the  reason — is  the 
result,  not  of  its  light,  but  of  its  darkness.  The  highest 
homage  of  the  intellect,  as  well  as  the  truest  love  of  the 
heart,  is  due  to  Christ,  and  to  refuse  to  render  either  to 
Him  is  to  dishonour  ourselves  as  well  as  Christ.  In  the 
teaching  of  the  young,  and  especially  of  young  men,  we 
cannot  be  too  careful  to  insist  on  this  fact,  that  whatever 
be  the  criminality  of  unbelief — and  of  this  God  alone  is  the 
judge — however  it  may  mean  moral,  it  must  mean  intel- 
lectual darkness.  On  the  side  of  Him  who  was  the  Eternal 
Word,  the  Uncreated  Reason,  all  truth  must  be.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  equally  true,  as  we  have  said,  that  where 
Christ  is  received  the  "darkness  is  past,  and  the  true  light 
now  shineth."  Coleridge  once  said  that  the  intellectual 
and  the  spiritual  would  ultimately  be  found  to  be  one;  and 


144  OUTLINES    ON    THE 

the  Gospel  of  St.  John  seems  to  hint  the  same  truth,  when 
it  declares  of  Christ  "in  Him  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the 
light  of  men." 

II.  Then,  too,  Christ  delivers  us  from  bondage.  For  sin 
means  slavery  of  one  kind  or  another.  No  one  doubts  this 
in  the  case  of  the  "  sins  of  the  flesh,"  where  we  may  some- 
times see  the  wretched  slave  of  vice  delivered  body  and 
soul  to  its  power  ;  but  it  is  just  as  true  of  the  -sins  of  the 
heart  and  of  the  intellect  as  it  is  of  sins  of  the  flesh.  One 
man,  for  example,  may  be  as  much  the  slave  of  gold, 
chained  hand  and  foot  to  his  cursed  passion  for  money, 
as  another  man  is  of  lust.  Or  it  may  be  as  difficult  and, 
humanly  speaking,  as  impossible  for  him  to  break  away 
from  the  chronic  ungodliness  of  the  heart  as  it  is  f©r  another 
to  rid  himself  of  the  miserable  thraldom  of  drink.  The 
same  thing  is  true  of  sins  of  the  intellect.  A  vicious  habit 
of  thought  may  become  as  incurable  as  a  vicious  habit  of 
life,  and  with  precisely  the  same  result,  that  of  fettering 
the  freedom  of  the  soul,  and  at  last  bringing  it  into  bondage 
to  itself. 

Now,  from  the  slavery  and  tyranny  of  sin  in  all  its  forms, 
the  "bondage  of  corruption,"  as  St.  Paul  emphatically  calls 
it,  Christ  comes  to  set  us  free.  And  He  sets  us  free  by 
reuniting  the  soul  to  God.  He  removes  the  guilt  which 
had  hitherto  haunted  the  conscience  as  the  shadow  cast  by 
its  sin,  and  had  turned  God  into  an  object  of  dread  instead 
of  love ;  He  delivers  the  will  from  the  alien  and  evil  power 
that  had  usurped  it  and  held  it  in  bondage,  and  in  place  of. 
self,  He  enthrones  God  as  the  Lord  and  centre  of  the 
life  of  the  soul.  And  the  moment  the  will  becomes  the 
servant  of  God,  it  enters  into  the  "  glorious  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God." 

Perhaps  it  may  be  asked,  if  this  liberty  "  wherewith 
Christ  makes  us  free"  is  so  great  and  glorious,  why  is  it  all 
who  are  slaves  of  sin  do  not  at  once  gladly  avail  themselves 
of  it.  The  answer  is  not  far  to  seek.  Even  a  slave  will 
not  abandon  his  slavery  if  he  loves  it.  When  the  law  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  came  into  force  in  America,  there 
were  some  plantations  where  the  slaves  actually  begged 
their  masters  not  to  free  them  ;  they  had  learned  to  love 
their  chains  ;  and  in  the  same  way,  those  who  love  their  sin 
rather  than  God  will  refuse  even  the  liberty  Christ  offers 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  I45 


them.  But  there  were  other  plantations  where  the  slaves 
had  long  tasted  the  bitterness  and  degradation  of  slavery, 
and  there  they  wept  for  joy  on  hearing  the  good  news  of 
their  emancipation,  and  were  ready  to  kiss  the  name  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  which  was  at  the  foot  of  the  proclama- 
tion of  their  freedom.  And  so  wherever  the  misery  of  this 
more  bitter  slavery  of  sin  has  been  felt,  the  soul  will  wel- 
come the  Lord  Jesus  as  He  comes  to  "  break  its  bands  in 
sunder,"  and  will  be  ready  to  fall  down  at  His  feet,  covering 
them  with  tears  of  gratitude,  as  it  cries,  "  Lord,  I  am  Thy 
servant,  I  am  Thy  servant ;  Thou  hast  loosed  my  bonds  ! y 
III.  Last  of  all,  Christ  delivers  us  from  death.  The 
Bible  never  conceals  from  us  the  tremendous  reality  of  the 
peril  to  which  sin  exposes  us.  It  tells  us,  plainly  enough, 
that  the  "  end  of  those  things  is  death  :  "  "  Sin,  when  it  is 
finished,  bringeth  forth  death."  And  in  our  teaching  we 
shall  make  a  fatal  mistake  if,  in  order  to  conciliate,  as  we 
think,  the  opposition  of  some  to  the  Gospel,  we  try  to  min- 
imise the  danger  and  the  evil  from  which  it  comes  to  deliver 
us.  It  is  the  greatness  of  the  danger  that  necessitated  and 
justified  the  greatness  of  the  interposition  God  has  made 
in  Christ  to  save  the  world  ;  and  the  more  profoundly  that 
danger  is  realized  the  deeper  will  be  our  gratitude  to  Him 
who,  instead  of  paying  us  «  the  wages  of  sin,"  which  we 
have  deserved,  offers  to  us  as  "the  gift  of  God"  eternal 
life,  "  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

G.  S.  B. 

LXXVII.     The  Day  which  the  Lord   hath  made. 

Ps.  cxviii.  24      "  This  is  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made; 
we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it" 

WHAT  is  the  exact  day  to  which  the  author  of  the  psalm 
refers  ?  Possibly  it  was  the  day  on  which  the  new  Temple 
was  consecrated  to  God,  or  perhaps  it  was  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles.  In  any  case,  it  was  a  great  historical  occa- 
sion, or  a  festival  of  the  first  importance. 
_  The  whole  of  the  11 8th  Psalm  applies  to  Jesus  the  Mes- 
siah, and  so  we  ask,  what  was  the  day  in  His  life  which  He 
made  His  own  beyond  all  others?  The  day  of  days  in 
Christ's  life  was  the  day  of  the  Resurrection.  "  This  is  the 
day  which  the  Lord  hath  made  ;  we  will   rejoice   and   be 

L 


146  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

glad  in  it."  The  Resurrection  should  provoke  a  joy  in 
Christian  hearts  greater  than  any  event  in  their  private 
lives,  greater  than  any  in  the  world's  public  history,  greater 
than  any  other  event  in  the  life  of  our  Lord. 

I.  The  joy  of  the  Resurrection  is  the  joy  of  a  great  re- 
action from  anxiety  and  sorrow.  The  apostles  had  been 
crushed  by  the  sufferings  and  death  of  the  Master.  When 
He  was  in  His  grave  all  seemed  over  ;  and  when  He 
appeared  first  to  one  and  then  to  another  on  the  day  of 
His  resurrection,  they  could  not  keep  their  feelings  of  wel- 
come and  delight  within  bounds.  "  Then  were  the  disciples 
glad  when  they  saw  the  Lord." 

II.  It  is  the  joy  of  a  great  certainty.  The  Resurrection 
of  our  Saviour  is  the  fact  which  makes  an  intelligent 
Christian  certain  of  the  truth  of  his  creed.  Christianity 
without  the  Resurrection  would  be  a  failure.  "If  Christ  be 
not  risen,  our  preaching  is  vain,  your  faith  is  also  vain." 

III.  It  is  the  joy  of  a  great  hope.  The  Resurrection  sets 
before  us  the  completeness  of  our  life  after  death.  Hope 
and  joy  are  twin  sisters.  Hope  best  enters  the  human  soul 
when  she  is  leaning  on  the  arm  of  joy.  As  the  apostle 
says,  "We  rejoice  in  the  hope  of  the  glory  of  God."  The 
Resurrection  of  Christ  has  quickened  our  perceptions  of 
the  unseen  and  of  the  future.  The  hope  of  meeting  those 
whom  we  have  loved  and  lost — the  hope  above  all  of  seeing 
and  being  welcomed  by  Him,  their  Lord  and  ours,  who,  in 
His  human  body  is  set  at  God's  right  hand — this  glorious, 
this  most  inspiring  hope,  springs  directly  from  the  Resur- 
rection morn,  and  we  may  exclaim  that  God  has  "  begotten 
us  again  to  a  lively  hope,  through  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ  from  the  dead,"  and  that  "  This  is  the  day  which 
the  Lord  hath  made  ;  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it." 

H.  P.  L. 

LXXVIII.  Time  for  Thee  to  Work.  Ps.  cxix.  126-8. 
11  //  is  time  for  Thee,  Lord,  to  work  :  for  they  have  made  void 
Thy  law.  Therefore  I  love  Thy  commandments  above  gold ;  yea 
above  fine  gold.  Therefore  1  esteem  all  Thy  precepts  concerning 
all  things  to  be  right ;  and  L  hate  every  false  way." 

The  psalmist  was  surrounded,  as  would  appear,  by  wide- 
spread defection  from  God's  law.     Instead  of  trembling  as 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  147 

if  the  sun  were  about  to  expire,  he  turns  himself  to  God, 
and  in  fellowship  with  Him  sees  in  all  the  antagonism  but 
the  premonition  that  He  is  about  to  act  for  the  vindication 
of  His  own  work.  That  confidence  finds  expression  in 
the  sublime  invocation  of  our  text. 

Then  with  another  movement  of  thought — the  contem- 
plation of  the  departures  makes  him  tighten  his  own  hold 
on  the  law  of  the  Lord,  and  the  contempt  of  the  gain- 
sayers  quickens  his  love :  "  Therefore  I  love  Thy  com- 
mandments above  gold."  And  as  must  needs  be  the  case, 
that  love  is  the  measure  of  his  abhorrence  of  the  opposite, 
and  because  God's  commandments  are  so  dear  to  him 
therefore  he  recoils  with  healthy  hatred  from  false  ways. 

We  have  a  fourfold  representation  here  of  our  true 
attitude  in  the  face  of  existing  antagonism. 

I.  Calm  confidence  that  times  of  antagonism  evoke 
God's  work  for  His  word.  This  confidence  rests  upon  our 
belief  in  a  Divine  providence  that  governs  the  world,  and 
on  the  observed  laws  of  its  working.  It  is  ever  His  method 
to  send  His  succour  after  the  evil  has  been  developed 
and  before  it  has  triumphed.  Had  it  come  sooner,  the 
priceless  benefits  of  struggle,  the  new  perceptions  won  in 
controversy  of  the  many  sided  meaning  and  value  of  His 
truth,  the  vigour  from  conflict,  the  wholesome  sense  of 
our  weakness,  had  all  been  lost.  Had  it  come  later,  it  had 
come  too  late. 

We  are  no  judges  of  the  time.  Our  impatience  is  ever 
outrunning  His  calm  deliberation.  If  He  does  not  "  work  " 
it  is  because  the  time  is  not  ripe.  Nor  can  we  forecast 
the  manner  of  His  working.  He  can  call  forth  from  the 
solitary  sheepfolds  the  defenders  of  His  word,  as  has  ever 
been  His  wont,  raising  the  man  when  the  hour  had  come, 
even  as  He  sent  His  Son  in  the  fulness  of  time.  There- 
fore we  wait  for  His  working,  expecting  no  miracle,  pre- 
scribing no  time,  avoiding  no  task  of  defence  or  confession  ; 
but  knowing  that,  unhasting  and  unresting,  He  will  arise 
when  the  storm  is  loudest — and  somehow  will  say,  "  Peace, 
be  still." 

Then  they  who  had  not  cast  away  their  confidence  will 
rejoice  as  they  sing,  "  Lo,  this  is  our  God  :  we  have  waited 
for  Him,  and  He  will  save  us." 

II.  Earnest   prayer  which   brings  that    Divine  energy. 


1 48  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

The  confidence  that  God   will  work   underlies   and   gives 
energy  to  the  prayer  that  God  would  work. 

The  prayers  of  Christian  men  do  condition  and  regulate 
the  outflow  of  the  Divine  energy.  The  actual  power 
wherewith  God  works  for  His  word  remains  ever  the  same, 
but  there  are  variations  in  the  intensity  of  its  operations 
and  effects  in  the  world.  Wherefore  ?  Surely  because  of 
the  variations  in  the  human  recipients  and  organs  of  the 
power.  Our  faith,  our  earnestness  of  desire,  our  ardour 
and  confidence  of  prayer,  our  faithfulness  of  stewardship 
and  strenuousness  of  use,  measure  the  amount  of  the  un- 
measured grace  which  we  can  receive.  The  true  antidote 
to  a  widespread  scepticism  is  a  quickened  Church.  If  our 
own  souls  were  gleaming  with  the  glory  of  God,  men  would 
believe  that  we  had  met  more  than  the  shadow  of  our  own 
personality  in  the  secret  place. 

III.  We  have  here,  thirdly,  a  love  to  God's  word  made 
more  fervid  by  antagonism.  The  hostility  of  others  evokes 
warmer  love.  Love  has  a  place  in  the  defence  of  truth. 
It  gives  weight  to  blows,  and  wings  to  the  arrows.  It 
makes  arguments  to  be  wrought  in  fire  rather  than  in  frost. 
There  are  causes  in  which  an  unimpassioned  advocacy  is 
worse  than  silence,  and  this  is  one  of  them.  Such  increase 
of  affection  because  of  gainsayers  is  the  natural  instinct  of 
loyal  and  chivalrous  love.  Again,  it  is  the  fitting  end  and 
main  blessing  of  the  controversy  which  is  being  waged. 
No  truth  is  established  till  it  has  been  denied  and  has 
survived.  Such  increase  of  attachment  to  the  word  of 
God  because  of  gainsayers  is  the  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion. The  tendencies  to  which  they  have  yielded  operate 
on  us  too,  and  our  only  strength  is  "  Hold  Thou  me  up  and 
I  shall  be  safe." 

IV.  We  have  here  a  healthy  opposition  to  the  ways 
which  make  void  the  word  of  the  Lord. 

The  correlative  of  a  hearty  love  for  any  principle  or 
belief  is  a  healthy  hatred  for  its  denial  and  contradiction. 
Much  popular  teaching  as  to  Christian  truth  appears  to 
ignore  this  plain  principle  and  to  be  working  harm 
especially  among  the  young,  whom  it  charms  by  an  ap- 
pearance of  liberality  which  in  their  view  contrasts  very 
favourably  with  the  narrowness  of  sectarians.  "  These 
things  are  written,  that  ye  might  believe  that  Jesus  is  the 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  149 

Christ  the  Son  of  God,  and  that  believing  ye  might  have 
life  through  His  name."  Wheresoever  that  record  is 
accepted,  that  Divine  name  confessed,  that  faith  exercised, 
and  that  life  possessed,  there  will  all  diversities  own  a 
brother.  Wheresoever  these  things  are  not,  loyalty  to  your 
Lord  demands  that  the  strength  of  your  love  for  His  word 
should  be  manifested  in  the  strength  of  your  recoil  from 
that  which  makes  it  void. 

A.  M. 


LXXIX.    Out  of  the  Depths.    Ps.   cxxx.   T-3.    "  Out  of 

the  depths  have  I  cried  unto  Thee,  O  Lord.  Lord,  hear  ?ny 
voice :  let  Thine  ears  be  attentive  to  the  voice  of  my  supplications. 
If  Thou,  Lord,  shouldest  mark  iniquities,  O  Lord,  who  shall 
stand!" 

THIS  psalm  is  the  sixth  of  seven  traditional  Penitential 
Psalms.  It  has  always  been  a  favourite  in  the  Church, 
and  is  well  known  under  the  name  of  the  De  Profundis. 
The  general  character  of  the  psalm  is  that  of  a  prayer 
for  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  with  accompanying  reflections 
upon  God's  hatred  of  sin,  and  God's  forgiving  love,  and 
with  an  exhortation  to  the  people  of  Israel  to  hope  in 
God's  mercy.  We  find  in  these  verses  a  personal  ex- 
perience developed  into  a  theology. 

This  is  the  right  order.  A  true  theology  is  bound  up 
with  experience,  and  elaborated  in  living. 

I.  In  this  psalm  we  see  a  man  under  the  deep  con- 
viction of  his  own  sinfulness.  He  represents  the  case  to 
us  figuratively  by  the  picture  of  a  shipwrecked  sailor 
struggling  with  the  waves.  The  waves  go  over  his  head. 
Out  of  the  depths  he  lifts  up  his  voice  and  cries  for  help. 
He  has  been  long  among  the  floods.  The  words  "have 
I  cried,"  mark  a  long  experience  continued  up  to  the 
present.  This  troubled  soul  not  only  cries  for  help,  but 
meditates  while  it  waits  for  help.  And  all  its  medita- 
tions turn  on  the  attitude  of  God  toward  sin.  His  minute 
cognizance  of  sin,  the  inability  of  man  to  sustain  the  test 
applied  by  His  immaculate  holiness,  and  withal  His 
tolerance,  His  forgiving  love  and  the  plenteousness  of  His 
redemption  from  sin. 


IS©  OUTLINES   ON  THE 


II.  Perception  of  God's  holiness  goes  to  create  a  deep 
sense  of  sin  in  the  man  to  whom  it  is  revealed.  The 
revelation  of  God's  holiness  in  Jesus  Christ  is  adapted  to 
awaken  in  men  the  same  sense  of  sin  which  the  vision  of 
the  Temple  created  in  Isaiah  ;  and  he  who  can  look  upon 
Jesus  Christ  and  not  be  dismayed  at  the  contrast  with 
his  own  character,  but  rather  meets  the  revelation  with  a 
heart  of  unbelief,  is  a  sinner  indeed.  "  If  Thou,  Lord, 
shouldest  mark  iniquity."  If  Thou,  Lord,  shouldest  look 
for  iniquity  with  all  the  eagerness  that  the  watchman  waits 
for  the  morning,  who  would  escape ! 

Here,  therefore,  we  have  a  soul  passing  through  the 
experience  of  conviction  of  sin,  conviction  wrought  by  the 
perception  of  God's  holiness,  and  the  fearful  contrast 
presented  by  its  own  character. 

III.  The  cry  for  help. 

The  result  of  this  conviction  of  sin  is  not  a  struggle  to 
justify  itself,  not  a  defiance  of  the  billows,  but  a  call  on 
Divine  mercy  and  succour.  "  Lord,  hear  my  voice,  let 
Thine  ears  be  attentive  to  the  voice  of  my  supplication." 
In  the  fourth  verse  there  is  a  gleam  of  light,  "  there  is 
forgiveness  with  Thee ;  "  and  in  the  seventh  verse  the  light 
breaks  full  and  strong,  and  the  cry  of  distress  is  exchanged 
for  the  language  of  hope.  We  see  the  man  come  to  shore. 
His  face  is  that  of  one  who  has  brought  a  treasure  with 
him  out  of  the  waves.  He  can  think  of  others  now  beside 
himself.  In  his  mouth  is  a  word  of  joyful  exhortation.  O 
Israel,  God  hath  forgiven  me,  hope  ye  in  Him.  O  Israel, 
hope  in  Jehovah,  for  with  Jehovah  is  loving  kindness  and 
with  Him  is  plenteous  redemption,  and  He  will  redeem 
Israel  from  all  his  iniquities.  The  Gospel  corresponds 
with  this  psalm  in  emphasizing  this  first  element  of  Chris- 
tian theology,  the  great  sinfulness  of  the  sinner.  It  treats 
sin  as  a  deep  seated  malady  which  none  but  God  can 
cure.  It  treats  it  in  the  very  spirit  of  this  psalm,  as  a 
'*  depth  "  out  of  which  man  must  cry  to  God,  "  Lord,  hear 
my  voice,  let  Thine  ears  be  attentive  to  the  voice  of  my 
supplications." 

The  Gospel  even  improves  upon  this  psalm  in  its  em- 
phasis upon  the  second  element  of  Christian  theology — 
God's  forgiveness.  The  New  Testament  states  no  truth 
which  is  not  here  in  the  psalm,  only  it  states  it  differently ; 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  15 


incarnating  the  truth  which  the  psalm  states  in  words,  the 
truth  that  God  loves  man,  and  loved  him  from  all  eternity  ; 
that  it  is  God  who  redeems  him  ;  that  plenteous  redemp- 
tion is  with  Him,  and  that  He  shall  redeem  His  Israel  out 
of  all  his  iniquities.  With  Him  is  the  forgiveness  which 
takes  away  all  sin,  the  loving  kindness  which  satisfies  all 
wants  and  comforts  all  sorrows,  the  plenteous  redemption 
which  saves  from  all  iniquities. 

M.  R.  V. 


LXXX.     The  Dew  of  Hermon.     Ps.  cxxxiii.    3.     "As 

the  dew  of  Hermon,  and  as  the  dew  that  descended  upon  the 
mountains  of  Zion  ;  for  these  the  Lord  commanded  the  blessing, 
even  life  for  evermore" 

The  first  verse  of  the  psalm  tells  us  what  it  is  that  is  like 
the  dew.  "  Behold,  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for 
brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity."  Dew  is  a  unity 
which  represents  the  unity  of  soul  in  which  dwells  God's 
full  "  blessing — Life  for  evermore."  This  little  psalm  is 
a  very  heavenly  one.  It  sings  about  brothers  and  sisters, 
for  God's  sons  and  daughters  are  of  course  brothers  and 
sisters,  united  and  harmonious  brothers  and  sisters.  How 
have  they  got  to  be  so  happy  ?  A  man  is  made  happy 
by  getting  all  selfishness  under  his  feet,  and  then,  being 
emptied  of  all  self,  God  sees  to  it  that  he  is  filled  with 
Himself.  This  psalm  sings  of  how  good  and  delightful 
it  will  be  to  come  again  to  the  brothers  and  sisters  who 
have  gone  before,  for  God  will  never  divide  you  from  those 
who  belong  to  you.  All  these  heavenly  brothers  and 
sisters  know  well  that  the  unity  is  not  of  their  making  ; 
they  know  that  it  is  nothing  but  the  Lord's  love  in  them 
all.  To  help  us  to  get  some  insight  into  this  unity  we 
have  here  the  beautiful  illustration  of  dew.  Dew  is  water 
that  has  been  liberated  from  the  earth  and  disenchanted 
of  earthliness.  Perhaps  it  has  been  caught  up  from  the 
stagnant  ditch,  and  now  there  is  nothing  impure  about  it. 
Does  the  mud  go  through  my  soul  as  the  mud  goes  through 
the  ditch  water,  or  has  my  soul  been  purified  ?  Man's  soul 
going  up  in  prayer  is  met  by  the  truth  and  the  love  of 
God,  and  these  blend  together  harmoniously  ;  and  thus  the 


152  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

soul,  chastened  and  purged  of  earth's  muddiness,  at  length 
becomes  clear,  a  glass  for  God's  purity  to  look  through. 
"  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God." 
They  shall  be  dew-drops  prepared  by  God's  grace  to 
mirror  the  perfect  One.  If  you  want  confirmation  that 
God's  end  is  to  purify  your  souls,  think  what  God  has 
done  to  do  it.  Think  of  the  birth  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in 
your  nature,  and  think  of  His  pains  and  sufferings  in  your 
nature.  By  the  power  and  light  of  the  Holy  Spirit  may 
His  own  purity  be  wrought  in  you,  that  you,  being  God's 
prepared  dew-drops,  after  you  have  passed  through  death's 
valley,  the  golden  sun  of  eternity  may  rise  upon  you  and 
reproduce  itself  in  the  centre  of  your  spirit,  and  gladden 
and  lift  up  all  your  powers  for  evermore. 

J.  Pu. 


LXXXI.     The    Fulfilment   of  the    Promise.      Ps. 

cxxxviii.  8.  "  The  Lord  will  pa-fed  that  which  concerneih 
me  ;  Thy  mercy,  O  Lord,  endureth  for  ever.  Forsake  not  the 
works  of  Thine  own  hands." 

We  do  not  know  who  wrote  this  psalm,  but  whoever  he 
was,  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  drawn  from  the 
singer's  heart  are  plainly  enough  expressed  in  it.  There 
had  been  some  great  promise  from  God  to  him,  the  fulfil- 
ment of  which  had  begun  but  was  only  partially  accom- 
plished ;  for  he  says  in  one  part  of  it,  "  Thou  hast  magnified 
Thy  word — the  word  of  Thy  promise — above  all  Thy 
name," — all  the  rest  of  Thy  revealed  character — "in  the 
day  when  I  cried  Thou  answeredst  me,  and  strengthenedst 
me  with  strength  in  my  soul,"  yet,  ''though  I  walk  in  the 
midst  of  trouble,  Thou  wilt  revive  me,  Thou  shalt  stretch 
forth  Thy  hand  against  the  wrath  of  mine  enemies."  So 
the  circumstances  are  these  :  the  great  word  of  promise 
that  was  beginning  to  work  in  the  man's  experience  and 
life,  and  which  had  not  yet  so  come  to  its  fulfilment  as 
to  conquer  these  difficulties  and  these  pains,  needed 
to  be  grasped  by  a  very  firm  hand  of  faith,  or  else  all 
its  prcciousness  and  sweetness  would  go.  And  so  stand- 
ing  in    the  middle  of  an  unfinished  work,  with  a  partial 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  153 

and  progressive  fulfilment  historically  realizing  itself  round 
about  him,  he  looks  forward  to  the  end  and  says,  "  The 
broken  and  incomplete  shall  be  completed,  the  circle 
will  round  itself  over,  and  the  sphere  will  be  perfect,  there 
shall  be  nothing  lacking  of  all  that  He  has  said,  the  Lord 
will  complete  that  which  concerneth  me,"  and  then  having 
thus  said — as  a  man  might  do  from  a  cliff — makes  a  spring 
to  catch  the  rope  that  held  him  up,  he  shakes  it  to  see 
is  it  firm  at  the  top  there,  his  confidence  begins  to  give 
account  of  itself  to  itself  and  to  tell  why  it  believes  itself 
to  be  so  relying,  "  as  the  old  psalm  reads  that  I  have 
heard  many  a  time  in  the  Temple — Thy  mercy  endureth 
for  ever."  And  then  having  shown  himself  that  it  is  not 
a  gleam,  or  a  mere  ghost  of  momentary  rapture  without  a 
good  sound  bottom  of  reality,  he  turns  his  preface  into  a 
prayer  which  appropriates  the  perfecting  help  of  God,  and 
says,  "  Forsake  not  the  works  of  Thine  own  hands."  And 
in  that  puts,  not  only  a  petition  but  a  plea,  "  the  works  of 
thine  own  hands." 

I.  And  so  look  at  these  three  phases  of  thought : 
The  Lord  will  perfect  that  which  concerneth  Him. 
Look  to  begin  with,  how  of  set  purpose  he  picks  out  a 
vague  expression — vague  as  to  the  region  in  which  this 
Divine  power  is  to  work;  and  vague  too  about  the  manner 
in  which  it  is  to  work.  "  I  know  not  what  Thy  pur- 
poses with  me  may  be  ;  this  I  know,  Thou  wilt  complete 
them,"  that  which  concerneth  him,  everything  which  lies 
around  him.  "  I  cannot  take  upon  myself  to  specialize  the 
things  which  I  want,  I  would  not  if  I  could  ;  enough  for  me 
that  everything  which  interests  me,  interests  Thee — every- 
thing which  affects  my  well-being  really  is  an  object  for 
Thy  hand  lavishly  and  sedulously  to  labour  at  till  it  is  all 
finished — that  which  concerneth  me  in  the  outward  life,  in 
the  bread  which  perisheth,  in  the  relationships  of  life,  the 
loves  and  friendships  whose  sweetnesses  are  so  dear,  whose 
losses  are  so  bitter  ;  in  all  the  trials  and  cares,  in  all  the 
hopes  that  go  to  water,  all  the  wishes  that  are  fulfilled 
proved  to  be  bitter,  in  all  this  incomplete  and  partial 
consecration,  of  half-hearted  love  of  which  I  am  conscious  ; 
in  all  the  limitations  of  the  understanding  of  Thy  great 
will,  and  my  reluctant  submission  to  the  sweetness  and 
power  of  that  will  ;  everything  that  belongs  to  this,  every- 


154  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

thing  that  belongs  to  the  other  ;  the  two  hemispheres  of 
this  life,  I  dare  not  prescribe,  I  would  not  prescribe,  I 
believe  in  Thy  perfecting  of  it.  Though  I  know  not  how 
that  shall  be,  yet  I  believe  in  thy  perfecting  of  it,  though 
I  know  not  yet  what  that  may  include.  And  so,  notice 
all  the  circumstances  in  which  this  large  and  quiet  confi- 
dence comes.  It  is  to  a  man  that  has  got  half  a  loaf  and 
not  a  whole  one  ;  who  though  he  has  got  a  great  promise 
there  in  the  horizon  to  rest  upon,  in  the  nearer  distance 
are  a  great  many  troubles,  a  great  many  imperfections  cer- 
tainly. There  is  the  great,  shining,  starlike  pointed  sky 
there,  but  here  upon  this  poor  plane  of  earth  there  is  plenty 
of  sorrow,  care,  and  busy  enemies,  and  the  words  before 
my  text  tell  us  the  condition  of  the  man  that  spoke  it : 
Though  I  walk  in  the  midst  of  trouble,  behind  me,  round 
about  me,  above  me,  there  is  the  circle.  What  am  I  to  do  ? 
I  cannot  break  through  this  circle.  No,  but  I  can  rise 
above  it !  When  I  feel  most  the  sorrow  and  perplexity 
and  weariness,  how  many  things  in  my  earthly  career, 
judged  by  any  worldly  point  of  view,  have  been  miser- 
able failures,  half  success,  broken  and  perturbed  ;  and  when 
I  feel  how  much  in  my  own  heart  is  dwarfed  and  stunted 
as  compared  with  what  it  ought  to  be,  let  me  take  that 
great  assurance  and  shake  it  in  the  face  of  my  enemies  and 
in  the  face  of  my  sins,  and  say,  "Lord,  Lord,  perfect  that 
which  concerneth  me  ;  they  compass  me  about  like  bees, 
and  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  will  I  destroy  them." 

Then  notice  that  this  is  no  saying  of  Paul's  about  our 
perseverance.  Men  have  no  right  to  say,  "  Sovereign  grace, 
Irresistible  power  will  make  it  right  for  me."  Yes,  but  on 
conditions.  If  you  will  let  Him.  Not  else.  It  is  no  use 
for  a  man  to  fold  his  hands  and  say,  "  Thou  wilt  work  it." 
Yes,  but  on  the  other  hand,  "Work  out  your  salvation 
with  fear  and  trembling  ;  "  then  down  on  your  knees  and 
say,  "  O  Lord,  forsake  not  Thou  the  work  of  Thine  own 
hands." 

II.  Look  then  at  the  next  phase:  the  Psalmist  seems,  as 
it  were,  to  say  to  himself,  "  How  do  you  know  that  God  will 
perfect  what  concerneth  you  ?  What  business  have  you 
to  cherish  such  an  expectation  as  that  ?  You  have  not 
perfected  anything  in  your  life."  And  then  he  flings  him- 
self out  of  himself  altogether.     "  Thy  mercy  endureth  for 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  155 

ever."  It  seems  here  as  if  he  were  quoting  snatches  of 
hymns,  a  bit  of  a  great  song  that  he  had  heard.  There 
is  one  great  psalm  of  which  you  know  the  chorus  of  each 
verse  is  "  For  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever,"  and  the  psalmist 
goes  through  all  the  regions  of  God's  work  and  appends 
to  each  verse,  "  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever."  And  so  the 
psalmist  here  quotes  the  refrain  of  the  old  Temple  song, 
and  sustains  himself  by  saying,  u  Thy  mercy,  O  Lord, 
endureth  for  ever."  That  is  to  say  :  God's  loving  kindness. 
"  The  mountains  may  depart,  and  the  hills  may  be  re- 
moved, but  my  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee."  The 
loving  kindness  that  changes  by  no  change  on  His  part  ; 
the  mercy  that  endureth  for  ever ;  after  all  its  communica- 
tion of  itself  to  the  whole  Universe.  Philosophers  tell  us 
now  that  the  central  sun  is  only  a  great  furnace  that  is 
fed  by  bodies  falling  into  it,  the  impact  of  which  induces 
heat,  which  certainly  will  also  be  exhausted  some  day. 
But  this  great  Sun  that  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  Universe 
and  round  which  all  creatures  gathers  is  none  the  less 
powerful  to  warm  and  give  heat  for  all  the  years  past  and 
all  the  eternity  to  come. 

III.  But  there  is  a  deeper  and  a  more  practical  thought 
than  that  for  us  all.  Unexhausted  by  all  Thy  gifts,  un- 
changed by  any  change  in  me,  and  incapable  of  being  pro- 
voked unto  cessation  by  anything  in  me  : 

"Though  I  have  most  unthankful  been 
Of  all  that  here  Thy  grace  received, 
A  thousand  times  Thy  goodness  seen, 
A  thousand  times  Thy  goodness  grieved." 

Yes !  "  the  Lord  will  perfect  that  which  concerneth  me  ; 
Thy  mercy  endureth  for  ever."  And  so  having  filled  his 
heart  with  that  great  thought  of  God's  unlimited  and  end- 
less mercy,  the  psalmist  leaves  his  investigation  into  the 
basis  of  the  confidence  and  turns  it  into  a  prayer,  "  For- 
sake not  the  works  of  thine  own  hands."  As  good  John 
Newton  says : 

"  By  prayer  let  me  wrestle 
And  He  will  perform." 

And  the  word  that  is  translated  here  "  perfect,"  is  the  word 
which  in  another  psalm  is  rendered  as  "perform."     "  I  will 


156  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

sing  unto  the  Lord  that  performeth  all  things  for  me." 
There  is  the  condition  of  our  receiving  that  perfecting 
help,  and  it  is  that  we  come  with  the  petition,  "  Leave  not, 
neither  forsake  me,  O  God  of  my  salvation."  Ah  !  how 
beautifully  the  psalmist  puts  his  prayer,  making  not  only 
a  petition  of  it,  but  also  a  plea  of  it,  "  the  works  of  Thine 
own  hands."  Thou  art  not  going  to  leave  Thy  work  half 
done.  Thou  art  not  a  man  that  Thou  shouldst  repent. 
Is  it  to  be  said  of  Thee,  as  people  go  down  the  street  of 
the  universe  and  see  it  filled  with  temples  to  Thy  praise  : 
this  man  began  to  build  and  was  not  able  to  finish  it  ? 
Beginning,  Thou  hast  bound  Thyself  to  complete.  Or, 
as  one  of  the  later  books  of  Scripture  has  it,  "  Commit 
the  keeping  of  your  souls  as  unto  a  faithful  Creator,"  who 
recognises  the  obligations  of  His  creative  work,  and  who 
thereby  binds  Himself  with  observing  the  conditions,  to 
fulfil  and  to  complete  the  work  He  has  undertaken.  "  Faith- 
ful is  He  that  calleth  you,  who  also  will  do  it,  knowing 
that  He  which  hath  begun  the  good  work  will  perform  it 
unto  the  end  in  Jesus  Christ." 

So,  in  all  the  strange  and  terrible  incompleteness  of 
Christian  character  under  which  so  many  of  us  consciously 
groan,  let  us  look  to  that  one  great  thought — God's  inex- 
haustible mercy,  and  God's  equally  inexhaustible  quicken- 
ing Spirit  and  power,  and  the  as  inexhaustible  energies 
that  are  stored  in  His  great  heart.  All  these  are  worthy  of 
Him  and  their  appropriate  end  is  nothing  short  of  absolute 
perfection.  Let  us  come  with  this  prayer,  "  Forsake  not 
the  works  of  Thine  own  hands,"  and  we  shall  get  the  old 
blessing,  "  I  will  not  leave  thee  until  I  have  done  to  Thee 
that  which  I  have  spoken. 

A.  M. 


LXXXII.  Humility.  Prov.  ii.  10,  n.  "When  wisdom 
enterelh  into  thine  heart,  and  knowledge  is  pleasa?it  unto  thy 
soul ;  discretion  shall  preserve  thee>  understanding  shall  keep 
thee:' 

Humility  has  been  described  as  the  first  sought  and  the 
last  won  of  the  Christian  graces.  Humility  is  not  the 
effervescence  of  momentary  abasement,  but  the  sum  total  of 


OLD    TESTAMENT,  157 


modest  thought.  It  is  not  to  be  gained  by  lowly  speech, 
or  demure  looks,  or  submissive  gaits  ;  but  by  the  gradual 
moulding  of  the  heart,  in  the  wholesome  experience  of 
trials,  defeats,  progress,  and  blessings,  and  in  the  increas- 
ing knowledge  of  God  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  So  it  is 
that  this  grace  resides  upon  the  highest  pinnacle  of  the 
Christian  edifice. 

I.  Humility  presupposes  a  soaring  spirit:  as  obedience 
implies  the  capability  of  disobeying,  as  faith  is  brightest 
when  inducements  to  unbelief  are  spread  around  ;  so,  and 
even  in  a  higher  degree,  humility  only  exists  when  the 
soul  is  uplifted  to  high  and  lofty  things.  Our  Lord  places 
humility  in  the  very  front  of  His  teaching:  "Blessed  are 
the  poor  in  spirit,"  there  is  the  abasement — "  for  theirs  is 
the  kingdom  of  Heaven,"  there  is  the  soul  set  upon  up- 
lifted aims. 

II.  Self- repression  is  another  element  of  humility.  Re- 
pentance must  begin  with  humility.  St.  Chrysostom  says, 
"  As  the  moon  appears  smaller  when  she  approaches  the 
sun,  so  does  the  soul  become  less  in  her  own  sight  as  she 
draws  nearer  to  God." 

III.  Reverence  is  another  element  of  humility.  He  who 
is  uniformly  reverent  to  Almighty  God  will  most  naturally 
and  easily  pay  proper  respect  to  men  ;  and  the  man  who 
is  deferential  in  all  relations  of  life  will  readily  venerate 
the  triune  Majesty  on  high. 

Does  not  our  Blessed  Lord  teach  us  in  His  own  example 
to  raise  high  our  aspirations,  to  refrain  our  souls  and  keep 
them  low,  to  devote  our  attention  to  what  is  before  us, 
and  to  cultivate  the  reverent  life  ?  On  the  hill  Calvary,  at 
the  foot  of  that  cross  which  is  set  up  towards  heaven, 
drawing  all  men  unto  it,  we  may  come  to  learn  what  we 
can  learn  nowhere  else — how  to  lower  our  pride,  and  to 
foster  humility  in  our  souls,  before  the  wondrous  sacrifice 
of  the  Son  of  God. 

E.  M. 

LXXXIII.      Mockers    at    Sin.      Prov.   xiv.  9.     "Fools 
make  a  mock  at  sin. " 

The  word  "  sin  "  is  here  used  in  its  general  sense,  for  all 
moral  evil  or  anything  hurtful  ;  and  the  wise  man  calls  all 


158  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

men  "  fools,"  who  either  treat  it  or  think  of  it  as  a  small 
matter. 

Let  us  inquire — 

I.  Who  are  those  who  make  a  mock  of  sin  ? 

(i)  Most  manifestly  every  man  does  this  who  openly 
glories  in  his  own  wickedness  ;  all  who  pride  themselves 
in  evil  exploits  and  successes. 

(2)  Any  man  who  winks  at  or  smiles  graciously  on  the 
evil  deeds  of  other  men,  in  business,  politics,  social  life, 
who  either  condones  it  or  excuses  it,  because  of  any 
partiality  for,  or  participation  with,  its  perpetrators. 

(3)  Those  who  mock  at  its  reprovers,  or  despitefully  use 
them  who  labour  for  its  reformation. 

(4)  Those  who  either  lead  others  into  sin  or  encourage 
them  to  abide  in  it. 

In  short,  every  man  "  makes  a  mock  at  sin,"  who  either 
in  his  religious  creed,  or  by  his  daily  conduct,  shows  that 
he  regards  sin  as  a  trifle. 

Consider  what  sin  really  is.  It  is  an  immense  moral 
evil.  As  Theology  defines  it :  "  Sin  is  any  want  of  con- 
formity unto,  or  transgression  of,  the  law  of  God."  "  There 
can  be  no  little  sin,  because  there  is  no  little  God,"  is 
a  true  saying.  Even  the  smallest  sin  is  a  violation  of  the 
whole  stupendous  law  of  God. 

But  if  you  would  understand  why  God  denounces  it  as 
something  so  terrible  and  monstrous,  you  must  observe  its 
.awful  consequences,  inquiring  not  merely  what  sin  is,  but 
what  sin  has  done  and  will  do. 

Every  form  of  evil  and  suffering  in  God's  universe  is  a 
consequence  of  sin. 

All  physical  evil  we  see  in  the  world  is  only  symp- 
tomatic of  the  deadly  ailment  of  the  higher  life  of  the 
soul  made  in  God's  image.  Down  into  the  springs  of 
the  spiritual  life  goes  the  malign  influence  of  sin,  and 
the  consequence  is  spiritual  death. 

As  you  look  on  Calvary's  cross  you  see  the  outworkings 
of  sin,  and  surely  there  is  needing  no  other  argument  to 
prove  that  sin  is  an  evil,  demanding  awful  punishment ; 
and  no  further  illustration  of  the  truth  of  the  text,  that 
fools,  and  only  fools,  make  a  mock  at  sin. 

II.  Consider  why  such  mockers  are  fools  ? 

We  have  indeed  been  answering  this  question  in  what 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  159 

has  gone  before.  To  make  a  mock  at  a  thing  is,  in  any- 
way, either  to  treat  it  or  regard  it  as  of  little  moment ;  and 
if  the  thing  is  very  mighty  or  great,  either  in  itself  or  its 
influence,  such  mockery  must  be  foolish. 

Either  to  speak  of  sin  or  to  think  of  sin  lightly  shows 
a  want  of  understanding,  and  just  because  a  man  thereby 
puts  in  jeopardy  ineffable  good,  or  hazards  immeasurable 
evil,  does  this  simple  making  a  mock  of  sin  prove  the  man 
a  fool,  Beware  of  making  light  of  sin.  Beware  of  the 
wine-cup.  Beware  of  bad  books.  Beware  of  the  theatre. 
Beware  of  evil  and  infidel  companions.  Beware  of  the 
profane  man.  Beware  of  the  Sabbath  breaker.  Beware 
of  the  untruthful  man  ;  the  dishonest  man. 

III.  Beware,  as  for  your  life,  of  these  beginnings  of  evil. 
Bring  your  heart  to  Jesus,  for  that  heart  is  already  sinful, 
and  He  alone  can  purify  and  save  it ;  and  just  to  do  this 
He  came  into  the  world. 

He  was  revealed  among  men,  that  He  might  destroy  all 
the  works  of  the  devil.  "  He  came  travelling  in  the  great- 
ness of  His  strength,  mighty  to  save." 

This  was  the  end  of  His  Divine  mission,  that  He  might 
nail  a  crucified  sin  to  His  own  cross,  and  bury  a  dead 
death  in  His  own  grave.  He  brought  gloriously  to  pass 
that  blessed  saying,  "  I  will  ransom  thee  from  the  power  of 
the  grave  ;  I  will  redeem  thee  from  death.  O  death,  I 
will  be  thy  plagues  !      O  grave,  I  will  be  thy  destruction  !  " 

And  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  can  now  lift  up  the 
triumphal  cry,  u  O  death  !  where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave  ! 
where  is  thy  victory  ?  "  Yes,  the  only  sting  of  death  is  sin, 
and  Christ  both  tears  away  the  sting  and  destroys  the 
monster  for  ever. 

Come  then  to  Jesus.  He  is  a  Saviour  from  sin.  How- 
ever mighty  the  sinful  fetters  that  are  on  you,  He  will 
break  them  !  However  terrible  the  monster  be  whose  hot 
breath  is  on  you,  whose  gleaming  fangs  are  over  you, 
Christ  is  stronger  than  he. 

Take  Christ  to  be  your  Saviour,  and  then  you  will  know 
how  wise  a  thing  it  is  to  have  heaven  for  a  home,  and  will 
never  know  all  the  tremendous  meaning  of  the  text's 
solemn  truth,  "  That  they  that  make  a  mock  of  sin  are 
fools." 

C.  W. 


i6o  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

LXXXIV.     The  Best  Friend.     Prov.  xviii.  22.    "There 
is  a  friend  that  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother."" 

Man  was  not  made  for  solitude.  He  has  a  craving  for 
fellowship  and  sympathy  which  can  be  satisfied  only  in  the 
conscious  possession  of  the  affection  of  another.  A  true 
friend,  therefore,  is  one  of  the  best  of  blessings.  And 
when  the  human  bond  is  sanctified  and  strengthened  by 
Christian  communion,  the  blessing  is  correspondingly  in- 
creased. 

When  Solomon  wrote  these  words  of  the  text,  it  is  but 
probable  he  made  direct  reference  to  the  Messiah.  But 
however  that  may  be,  the  text  in  its  highest  sense  is  ap- 
plicable to  the  Lord  Jesus,  for  let  our  earthly  brother  be 
the  best  and  noblest  possible,  it  will  still  hold  good  that 
in  Jesus  we  have  a  friend  that  "sticketh  closer  than  a 
brother." 

I.  The  surpassing  excellence  of  the  friendship  of  Jesus 
is  seen  in  the  sacrifice  which  He  has  made  for  us. 

He  who  had  the  riches  of  Divine  glory  as  His  own, 
stooped  to  the  depths  of  human  poverty  for  us,  and  hum- 
bled Himself  to  the  death  of  the  cross  that  we  might 
be  forgiven.  Think  of  His  humble  birth,  His  lowly  life, 
His  privation,  His  weariness,  His  sorrow,  His  agony,  His 
crucifixion  :  then  contrast  all  these  with  the  uncreated 
light  in  which  eternally  He  dwelt,  and  you  will  have  some 
idea  of  the  magnitude  of  the  sacrifice  which  He  made 
for  us.  Truly  looking  at  Calvary's  cross  we  may  well 
exclaim,  "  There  is  a  friend  that  sticketh  closer  than  a 
brother." 

II.  It  is  seen  in  the  sympathy  He  feels  for  us. 
Friendship-  is   based  on  sympathy,   and   the  nearer  the 

experience  of  one  comes  to  that  of  another,  the  closer  is 
the  intimacy  between  them.  This  is  the  reason  why  the 
friendship  of  a  brother  is  especially  referred  to  here.  When 
strangers  cannot  understand  the  actions  and  expressions  of 
a  man,  they  are  commonly  quite  plain  to  his*brother.  But 
there  is  a  limit  even  to  a  brother's  sympathy.  Influences 
may  come  into  operation  which  may  raise  a  barrier  be- 
tween them,  or  another  love  may  come  between  them  and 
interrupt  the  free,  unfettered  interchange  of  sympathy.  It 
can   never  be  so  with  us  and  Jesus.     For  as  God   He  is 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  161 


always  acquainted  with  our  inmost  feelings,  and  as  man 
He  knows  our  human  limitations  and  struggles.  His  love 
is  stronger  than  death,  stronger  than  to  be  broken  even  by 
our  folly  and  our  falls. 

III.  It  is  seen  by  the  constancy  which  He  manifests. 
The  friends  of  earth  too  often  worship  prosperity,  and 

come  fluttering  round  us  in  our  summer  gladness,  as  the 
swallows  come  twittering  about  the  house  eaves  in  "  the 
leafy  month  of  June  "  ;  but  like  them  too  they  disappear 
when  winter's  cold  sets  in,  and  the  chill  of  adversity  is 
upon  us.  But  Jesus  is  true  to  us  all  times,  and  most 
especially  in  our  hour  of  need.  He  is  a  very  present  help 
in  trouble. 

IV.  It  is  seen  in   His  faithfulness. 

A  flattering  friend  is  in  the  end  the  most  dangerous  of 
enemies,  but  faithful  are  the  wounds  inflicted  by  a  friend, 
and  he  is  our  truest  adviser  who  will  rather  hurt  our  self- 
conceit  than  suffer  our  self-conceit  to  injure  us.  Our  very 
trials,  therefore,  are  evidences  of  the  superiority  of  Christ's 
friendship  in  the  matter  of  faithfulness. 

They  are  the  incisions  of  that  pruning-knife  wherewith 
He  cuts  off  all  superfluous  affluence  of  growth,  and  fits  us 
to  bring  forth  much  fruit. 

V.  It  is  seen  in  His  tenderness. 

Too  frequently  in  the  attempt  to  become  faithful  we 
become  unfeeling,  or  in  the  wish  to  be  gentle  we  become 
unfaithful.  But  Jesus  is  both  tender  and  faithful.  The 
bruised  reed  shall  He  not  break  and  the  smoking  flax  shall 
He  not  quench. 

VI.  It  is  seen  in  its  perpetuity. 

Other  friendships  are  interrupted  by  death,  but  this  love 
is  stronger  than  death.  Yea,  is  strong  in  death.  Death, 
that  breaks  all  human  ties,  only  knits  more  closely  to  Jesus, 
and  never  till  we  close  our  eyes  on  sublunary  scenes  and 
gaze  on  the  King  in  His  beauty  shall  we  know  fully  the 
depth  and  ardour  of  the  love  of  Him  who  is  a  "  Friend  that 
sticketh  closer  than  a  brother."  " 

VII.  The  superiority  of  this  friendship  is  apparent  when 
you  consider  the  resources  which  He  commands. 

Many  earthly  friends  have  the  will  to  help  us,  but  lack 
the  ability,  but  in  Him  the  power  and  the  will  are  united. 
He  never  fails,  never  disappoints,  never  deceives.      His 


1 62  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

power,  His  goodness,  His  wisdom  are  yours,  and  when 
your  faith  takes  all  that  in,  you  will  be  able  to  sing  "  God 
is  our  refuge  and  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble." 

W.  M.  T. 


LXXXV.    Vanity  of  Vanities.     Eccl.  i.  2,  3.    "  Vanity 

of  vanities,  saith  the  Preacher,  vanity  of  vanities  ;  all  is  vanity. 
What  profit  hath  a  man  of  all  his  labour  which  he  taketh  under 
the  sun  ?  " 

THE  general  drift  of  this  book  of  Ecclesiastes  is  peculiar 
to  itself.  It  gives  us  an  estimate  of  life  which,  to  a  certain 
extent,  reappears  in  our  Lord's  teaching,  but  which  is 
generally  speaking  in  the  background  throughout  the  Old 
Testament  Our  text  is  the  keynote  of  the  book.  The 
word  "  vanity  "  occurs  thirty-seven  times  in  it,  and  it  means 
properly  speaking  a  breath  of  wind  ;  and  thus  it  comes  to 
mean  something  fictitious  and  unsubstantial.  The  vanity 
of  life,  and  of  that  which  encompasses  it,  has  been  brooded 
over  by  the  human  mind  under  the  influences  of  very 
different  moods  of  thought.  But  it  was  neither  subtle 
pride,  nor  weary  disgust,  nor  a  refined  mysticism  that 
prompted  this  language  of  Solomon. 

The  Preacher  does  not  ignore  the  circumstances  and 
duties  of  this  life,  while  he  insists  that  this  life  does  not 
really  satisfy.  The  true  lesson  of  the  text  before  us  is 
that  this  earthly  life  cannot  possibly  satisfy  a  being  like 
man  if  it  be  lived  apart  from  God.  The  reason  is  three- 
fold. 

I.  All  that  belongs  to  created  life  has  on  it  the  mark 
of  failure.  Man  is  conscious  of  this.  The  warp  and 
weakness  of  his  will,  the  tyranny  of  circumstance,  the  fatal 
inclination  downwards,  of  which  he  is  constantly  conscious, 
tell  a  tale  of  some  past  catastrophe  from  which  human  life 
has  suffered  deeply.  And  nature  too,  with  its  weird  mys- 
teries of  waste  and  pain,  speaks  of  some  great  failure. 

II.  Life  and  nature  are  finite.  The  human  soul,  itself 
finite,  is  made  for  the  infinite.  God  has  set  eternity  in  the 
human  heart,  and  man,  as  man,  has  a  profound  mistrust 
of  his  splendid  destiny. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  163 

III.  All  that  belongs  to  created  life  has  on  it  the  mark 
of  approaching  dissolution.  This  is  a  common-place,  but 
common-places  are  apt  to  be  forgotten  from  their  very- 
truth  and  obviousness.  Personality  survives  with  its  moral 
history  intact,  all  else  goes  and  is  forgotten.  What  profit 
hath  a  man  of  all  his  labour  ?  The  answer  is,  no  profit  at 
all,  if  he  is  working  only  for  himself;  but  most  abundant 
profit  if  he  is  working  for  God  and  eternity.  Christ  has 
passed  His  pierced  hands  in  blessing  over  human  life  in 
all  its  aspects.  He  has  washed  and  invigorated  not  merely 
the  souls,  but  the  activities  of  men,  in  His  own  cleansing 
blood.  When  death  is  near  we  read  this  verse  with  new 
eyes,  and  realize  that  this  is  a  world  of  shadows,  that  the 
real  and  abiding  is  beyond. 

H.  P.  L. 


LXXXVI.      Regarding    the    Clouds.     "Eccl.    xi.    4. 
"  He  that  regardeth  the  clouds  shall  not  reap." 

The  drift  of  this  saying  is  plain  enough  if  we  look  at  the 
context.  Solomon  is  enforcing  the  duties  of  charity  and 
hospitality,  and  he  advises  his  readers  to  do  their  best,  con- 
sidering the  uncertainty  of  all  human  affairs.  All  is  un- 
certainty. All  depends  on  causes  beyond  human  control, 
causes  which  defy  human  resistance.  But,  he  says,  it  is 
unpractical  to  give  too  much  thought  to  what  we  cannot 
influence.  The  man  who  does  so  will  never  get  through 
his  appointed  duties  in  life.  "  He  that  observeth  the  wind 
shall  not  sow :  he  that  regardeth  the  clouds  shall  not  reap." 
By  the  "  clouds  "  in  this  passage  are  meant  those  sources 
of  danger  or  misfortune  which  are  out  of  our  reach,  which 
we  cannot  control. 

We  of  the  modern  world  have  been  taught  by  a  living 
writer  to  admire  the  clouds  for  their  own  sake,  as  in  them- 
selves objects  of  exceeding  beauty.  But  this  aesthetic 
admiration  of  the  clouds  is  a  thing  of  modern  growth.  In 
the  Bible  the  clouds  are  generally  symbols — symbols  of 
some  facts  or  characteristics  of  the  spiritual,  the  moral,  the 
human  world.  He  that  regardeth  the  clouds,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Solomon,  is  not  an  artist  who  is  entranced  with 
their  beauty  ;   he  is,  more  probably,  a  farmer  who  wants  to 


1 64  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

harvest  his  crops,  and  who  sees  in  the  clouds  sources  of  too 
possible  disaster. 

Here  we  have  at  the  hands  of  this  great  master  of 
life  and  conduct  a  rule  or  principle  which  corresponds  with, 
but  which  is  much  more  important  than,  the  rules  of  good 
farming.  We  are  not  to  spend  the  brief  day  of  life  in 
wistfully  surveying  those  awful  conditions  or  those  solem- 
nities which  surround  our  existence.  We  are  to  do  the 
utmost  in,  and  to  make  the  best  of,  that  circle  of  duties, 
that  state  of  life,  to  which  it  has  pleased  God  to  call  us. 

If  we  suppose  a  man  to  be  placed  in  this  world  without 
the  light  of  revelation,  how  is  he  likely  to  look  upon  his 
existence  ?  Is  existence  a  happiness  or  a  misery,  a  bless- 
ing or  a  curse  ?  This  question  will  probably  be  answered 
in  accordance  with  deep- seated  tendencies  ;  but  these  tend- 
encies, when  emphasized,  become  systems  of  doctrine,  and 
so  it  is  that  there  are  two  main  ways  of  looking  at  human 
life. 

I.  There  is  what  is  called  optimism — the  product  of  a 
temper  which  refuses  to  see  in  life  anything  but  sunshine. 
It  draws  a  veil  over  the  importunities  of  poverty  and  pain  ; 
it  draws  its  curtains,  it  pokes  up  its  fire.  It  whispers  to 
itself,  "  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  thyself  for 
many  years,  take  thine  ease  :  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry !  " 
and  perhaps  it  fancies  that  it  has  got  hold  of  the  true 
meaning  of  Solomon,  and  that  it  is  obeying  him  in  not 
regarding  the  clouds.  This  optimism  of  nature  knows 
nothing  of  a  redemption,  because  it  knows  nothing  of  a 
lapse  from  original  righteousness  and  peace — because  it 
closes  its  eyes  to  all  from  which  we  have  to  be  redeemed. 
The  objection  to  this  theory  is  that  it  is  inconsistent  with 
hard  facts.  It  is  not  well  to  play  the  fiddle  like  the  em- 
peror of  old,  while  Rome  is  burning,  or  to  dance  upon  the 
deck  of  a  sinking  ship. 

II.  There  is  also  what  is  called  pessimism.  We  have 
all  met  with  people  who  make  a  point  of  looking  at  every- 
thing on  the  darkest  side.  For  them  the  sun  never  shines, 
the  flowers  never  open,  the  face  of  man  never  smiles.  Yet 
this  must  be  said  for  pessimism,  that  when  Christianity  is 
unknown  it  has  a  larger  basis  of  fact  than  optimism. 

III.  Let  us  see  how  Christianity  bears  itself  towards 
these  opposing  estimates  of  human  life. 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  165 

The  religion  of  Christ  is  by  turns  pessimist  and  optimist. 
Christianity  quarrels  not  with  the  principles  of  these  ways 
of  looking  at  life,  but  with  their  misapplication. 

St.  Paul  is  pessimist  enough  in  his  description  of  the 
state  and  prospects  of  the  heathen  world  in  the  beginning 
of  his  epistle  to  the  Romans.  But  who  more  optimist  than 
he  ?  With  human  nature  left  to  itself  he  can  hope  for 
nothing.  With  human  nature  redeemed  and  invigorated 
by  Jesus  Christ,  he  can  despair  of  nothing.  "  I  know  that 
in  me  dwelleth  no  good  thing."  "I  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ  that  strengtheneth  me." 

Thus  we  see  now  the  birth  of  our  Divine  Lord  into  the 
human  world  was  the  consecration  of  optimism  and  the 
condemnation  of  pessimism.  Pessimism  in  a  Christian  is 
disloyalty  to  Christ.  Optimism  in  a  Christian  is  mere 
common  sense.  Let  us  not  regard  the  clouds  ;  let  us  leave 
them  to  God.  Life  is  too  short,  and  its  real  business  too 
urgent.  God  bids  us  remember  that  He  is  Lord  of  the 
darkest  clouds,  and  that  to  trust  Him,  instead  of  regarding 
them  too  anxiously,  is  to  reap  sooner  or  later  the  eternal 

harvest. 

H.  P.  L. 


LXXXVII.  The  Two  Returns.  Eccl.  xii.  7.  "  Then 
shall  the  dust  return  to  the  earth  as  it  was  ;  and  the  spirit  shall 
return  unto  God  who  gave  it? 

The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  has  been  described  as  the  "  con- 
fession of  a  man  of  wide  experience,  looking  back  upon 
his  past  life,  and  looking  out  upon  the  disorders  and 
calamities  which  surround  him."  The  subject  of  the  para- 
graph is  the  wisdom  of  remembering  God  in  youth.  A 
lively  picture  is  drawn  of  the  infirmities  and  incapacities 
of  old  age,  as  the  best  of  reasons  why  the  great  "  remem- 
bering "  should  not  be  deferred  till  that  part  of  life.  Let 
us  consider  the  great  end  which  is  before  each  of  us— an 
end  in  which  each  must  be  alone — an  end  which  is  also  a 
beginning.  The  fact  of  death,  the  corporeal  fact,  is  full  of 
significance,  and  should  never  be  frowned  away.  If  this 
fact  were  pondered  over,  if  it  even  were  rehearsed  to  our- 
selves morning  by  morning,  it  would  cause  some  alterations 
in  the  habits  which  we  allow,  and  in  the  lives  which  we 


166  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

live.  It  is  however  the  other  half  of  the  text  which  gives 
the  chief  solemnity  even  to  this.  If  the  whole  of  dying 
were  just  the  getting  rid  of  the  mortal  then  there  would 
be  no  positive  "sting"  in  death.  But  "the  spirit  must 
return  unto  God  who  gave  it."  It  is  commonly  said  that 
the  Old  Testament  has  no  revelation  of  immortality. 
What  can  we  say  of  the  text  ?  Is  it  consistent  with  the 
dream  of  extinction,  of  absorption,  of  annihilation  ?  Why 
not  say  then  at  once,  dust  and  spirit  together  shall  return 
to  earth  as  they  were  ?  This  we  say — that  no  saint  of 
God  from  first  days  till  latest  was  ever  left  destitute  of 
the  instinct  of  immortality. 

I.  The  spirit.  It  is  one  half  of  us.  It  contains  the 
"willing"  of  which  the  body  does  the  "running."  This 
spirit  is  God's  gift.  Angel,  I  must  be,  or  else  devil,  in 
virtue  of  this  gift. 

II.  The  return.  The  spirit  has  to  go  back  to  its  Giver. 
It  was  not  for  Solomon  to  enter  into  niceties  and  subtleties 
such  as  those  of  the  intermediate  state,  the  Hades,  between 
death  and  resurrection.  Enough  for  him  to  see  the 
"  return." 

III.  The  receiver.  "To  God  who  gave  it."  That  spirit 
as  it  came  from  God's  hand  was  not  necessitated  to  evil. 
In  what  state,  of  what  colour  does  it  return  ?  Oh,  to  think 
of  carrying  all  this  filth  into  heaven  !  to  think  of  going 
back  to  the  Father  of  Spirits  with  that  lie,  with  that  lust 
black  and  hideous  upon  thee !  It  is  this  which  frightens 
and  confounds  us  ?  The  Gospel  of  our  Lord  does  not 
leave  us  in  despair :  "  Come  unto  Me,"  I  will  save,  My 
rod  and  staff  shall  support. 

C.  J.  V. 


LXXXVIII.    The   Strength   of  Love.    Song  of   Sol. 
viii.  6.     "  For  love  is  strong  as  death." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  whose  "  love "  it  is  of  whom 
Solomon  is  speaking.  It  is  the  Church's  language  to  Christ 
pleading  to  be  riveted  to  Christ's  heart,  and  Christ's  arm  ; 
and  the  heart  and  the  arm  are  brought  together  and  love 
is  strength.  "  Set  me  as  a  seal  upon  thine  heart,  as  a  seal 
upon  thine  arm  :  for  love  is  strong  as  death."  It  is  very 
much  to  be  questioned  whether  it  could  be  said  of  any  other 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  167 

love  excepting  Divine  love  that  it  has  this  strength,  out- 
matching mortality.  Though  we  cannot  allow  it  to  natural 
affection,  yet  we  extend  it  to  the  Christian,  and  we  pro- 
nounce of  all  holy  love,  whether  as  that  love  flows  down 
from  God  to  the  believer  or  as  that  love  flows  back  again 
from  the  believer  to  God — "  Love  is  strong  as  death." 

We  are  all  conscious  of  the  exceeding  strength  of 
"  death."  It  is  the  great  dividing  power.  The  essence  of 
death  is  that  it  separates.  The  natural  death  separates 
the  soul  from  the  body  and  man  from  his  fellows.  The 
spiritual  death  separates  the  creature  from  the  light  and 
favour  of  its  Creator.  The  second,  or  eternal  death, 
separates  the  whole  man  from  the  presence  of  God  for  ever. 
Now  let  us  turn  from  the  strong  to  the  stronger  one.  We 
see  Him  out  of  His  love  for  souls,  saying  "  Lo,  I  come," 
for  love  is  strong  as  death.  And  after  a  life  all  dying, 
there  came  to  Christ  the  last  dread  struggle,  and  death 
arrayed  itself  in  all  its  terrors.  In  the  midst  of  that  last 
conflict,  there  was  seen  a  strength  in  the  dying  Saviour's 
love  which  "  many  waters  could  not  quench."  His  voice  of 
prayer  was  heard  for  His  murderers,  His  look  of  tender- 
ness was  upon  His  mother,  His  word  of  promise  sent  a 
joy  into  the  dying  penitent's  soul.  And  now  the  gulf  that 
separated  God  from  the  sinner  is  filled  up  and  the  soul 
can  draw  nigh  to  God.  Thanks  be  to  God,  many  have 
borne  witness  that  even  in  these  poor  hearts,  when  touched 
by  God's  grace,  there  is  a  power  in  love  which  death  itself 
can  never  match.  The  martyrs  witness  that  "  love  is  strong 
as  death." 

If  you  have  to  do  with  dead  souls,  recollect  that  love 
is  the  most  powerful  instrument  to  grapple  with.  "  Love  is 
strong  as  death."  And  in  considering  the  approach  of 
death,  take  the  same  truth  in  your  hand,  that  Christ's  love 
is  enough  for  you,  then  "  Love  is  strong  as  death." 

J.  V. 

LXXXIX.  The  Light  of  the  Lord.  Isa.  ii.  5.  «  O 
house  of  Jacob,  come  ye,  and  let  us  walk  in  the  light  of  the 
Lord." 

This  invitation  was  uttered  at  a  very  critical  epoch  in  the 
history  of  the  kingdom  of  Judah  ;  either  towards  the  close 


1 68  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

of  the  reign  of  Uzziah  or  during  that  of  his  son  Jotham. 
That  kingdom  had  reached  a  higher  point  of  prosperity 
and  splendour  than  at  any  previous  date  since  the  fatal 
division  of  the  nation  under  Rehoboam.  From  the  pro- 
phecies of  Isaiah  we  discern  that  the  temper  of  his  country- 
men was  just  such  as  their  great  prosperity  would  be  likely 
to  produce.  They  had  the  strength,  the  presumption  of 
an  overweening  confidence — confidence  in  the  government, 
in  the  future  and  in  themselves.  Every  prosperous  civiliza- 
tion has  a  tendency  to  throw  off  from  its  own  feverish 
activity  a  phosphoric  glare,  and  then  imagine  that  this 
glare  is  the  shining  of  the  sun  in  the  heavens.  Now  it 
was  to  a  generation  fascinated  by  an  ignis  fatuus  of  this 
sort  that  Isaiah  dared  to  cry,  "Let  us  walk  in  the  light  of 
the  Lord."  There  was  the  irony  of  a  profound  contrast 
in  the  very  expression.  The  light  in  which  Judah  was 
walking  was  certainly  not  the  Lord's  light. 

I.  What  did  the  "light of  the  Lord  "  mean  for  the  Judah 
of  Isaiah's  day  ? 

(i)  It  meant  a  true  estimate  of  what  the  descendants  of 
Jacob  were  intended  to  be  in  the  mind  of  God.  This  high 
and  glorious  ideal  had  been  revealed  to  them  but  had 
been  lost  sight  of.  Israel  was  to  have  a  place  in  the 
spiritual  empire  of  the  world,  a  place  unique  and  un- 
approachable, and  for  this  she  was  to  prepare,  with  this  no 
earthly  ambition  ought  to  have  interfered.  To  have  for- 
gotten this  destiny  was,  in  Isaiah's  judgment,  to  walk  in 
the  darkness.  "  Come,"  he  cries  to  his  wandering  country- 
men, "  let  us  walk  in  the  light  of  the  Lord." 

(2)  It  meant  a  true  appreciation  by  the  Jewish  people 
of  their  own  moral  and  spiritual  condition.  "  The  land  is 
filled  with  idols,"  the  prophet  indignantly  cries,  "  come,  let 
there  be  a  truce  to  our  long  self-deception,  and  let  us  look 
at  things  as  they  are  in  the  light  of  the  Lord." 

(3)  It  meant  an  assurance  of  coming  judgment.  This 
third  ray  of  Divine  light  falling  on  the  national  conscience 
was  practically  inseparable  from  the  preceding.  With 
Judah's  ideal  of  its  capacity  for  true  greatness — with 
Judah's  deep  degradations  scarce  shrouded  by  what  met 
the  eye — it  could  not  be  that  no  penal  visitation,  no  judg- 
ment was  impending.  "While  it  is  not  yet  too  late,  come, 
let  us  walk  in  the  light  of  the  Lord." 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  rfg 


II.  What  meaning  have  the  prophet's  words  for  modern 
people — for  ourselves. 

(i)  The  light  of  the  Lord  teaches  every  soul  upon  which 
it  falls  that  it  has  an  ideal  of  what  it  might  be,  fully  formed 
in  the  mind  of  God,  more  or  less  set  before  it  in  the  pro- 
vidences and  by  the  teachings  of  life. 

(2)  This  light  shows  the  soul  its  load  of  secret  sin. 

(3)  It  teaches  the  necessity  and  certainty  of  a  coming 
judgment.  This  revelation  of  judgment  would  be  too 
much  for  our  aching  heads  and  sinking  hearts,  did  we  not 
know  that  in  our  judge  Himself  we  may,  if  we  will,  find 
and  claim  our  Saviour.  The  hand  which  at  last  will  guide 
the  angels  on  their  errands  of  justice  is  the  hand  which 
was  pierced  of  old  for  the  redemption  of  the  lost. 

H.  P.  L. 

XC.  Isaiah's  Call.  Isa.  vi.  8.  "Also  I  heard  the  voice 
of  the  Lord,  saying,  Whom  shall  L  send,  and  who  will  go  for 
us?     Then  said  L,  Here  am  I;  send  me." 

THESE  words  come  out  of  that  wonderful  vision  by  which 
the  prophet  Isaiah  gets  his  charge  and  commission.  I 
need  not  remind  you  of  the  previous  portion  of  it ;  how  in 
the  year  that  the  king  died  the  prophet  sees  the  true  King 
of  Israel  sitting  upon  the  empty  throne  in  the  Temple 
there,  with  a  train  which  draped  Him  royally  about,  and 
around  Him  those  strange  forms  with  the  triple  power 
of  wings,  swift  to  serve,  humble  to  adore,  lowly  in  self- 
depreciation,  covering  their  feet.  And  there  comes  the 
great  solemn  service  of  praise,  with  alternate  responses 
one  to  the  other,  "  Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  of 
Hosts."  And  at  that  apocalypse  of  the  Divine  glory  the 
prophet  is  smitten  with  a  sense  of  his  own  sinfulness  and 
evil,  and  says,  "  Oh  !  woe  is  me,  for  I  am  a  man  of  unclean 
lips,  myself  a  sinful  soul,  and  dwelling  in  the  community 
of  such,  mine  eyes  did  see  the  Eternal  King,  of  whom  the 
mortal  king  that  has  been  laid  in  his  grave  is  only  a 
shadow ;  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  King,  the  Lord  of 
Hosts."  And  then  comes  one  of  the  Seraphim,  who  touches 
his  lips  with  a  live  coal  from  the  altar,  and  that  purges  and 
takes  away  his  sin.  And  then  after  that,  after  that,  after 
the  vision  of  God  and  the  cleansing  from  evil,  there  comes 


170  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

this  strange  word  of  the  text,  "  I  heard  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  saying,  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go  for  us  ?  " 
For  us.  Now  notice  these  points ;  this  form  of  question, 
and  the  Divine  help.  It  does  not  express  hesitation,  doubt, 
or  ignorance,  but  it  expresses  I  think  the  same  thing  which 
is  put  more  distinctly  by  the  double  form  of  the  question, 
"  Whom  shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go  ?  "  viz.,  that  God's 
commission  is  offered  for  the  acceptance  of  hearts  that  are 
smitten  by  His  love,  and  that  He  calls  for  volunteers,  not 
for  pressed  men ;  not  saying  to  any  man  who  is  unwilling 
and  reluctant,  "  Go  " ;  but  saying,  "  Who  will  come  and 
grasp  the  prize  of  being  sent  by  me  ? "  "  Whom  shall  I 
send  ?  " — appointment,  selection,  commission — "  but  no 
reluctant  messenger  will  go  about  my  errand."  "Who 
will  go  for  us  ?  "  And  then  there  is  another  very  remark- 
able point.  What  is  the  meaning  of  that  strange  us  ?  It 
belongs  to  those  heavenly  forms  that  the  prophet  in  his 
rapture  sees  worshipping  before  God,  and  are,  as  it  were, 
taken  into  the  Divine  counsels,  are  of  one  desire  and 
one  interest  with  God  Himself.  So  that  the  message 
which  the  prophet  is  to  carry  is  a  thing  in  which  God 
is  interested,  about  which  God  is  solicitous,  the  doing 
and  speaking  of  which  is  a  thing  very  near  to  the 
Divine  Heart.  So  that  the  man  that  does  this  errand 
does  it  for  God's  behoof,  and  on  behalf  and  behoof  of  all 
the  pure  and  good  spirits  that  cluster  about  Him,  and, 
with  Him,  long  that  His  glory  should  be  spread  through 
the  earth.  So  there  are  three  things  which  come  out  of 
this  first  great  question  of  my  text,  '•  Whom  shall  I  send, 
and  who  will  go  for  us  ?  " 

I.  (i)  God's  commission  to  every  one  of  us.  All  we 
Christian  people  have  got  that  voice  ringing  in  our  ears 
as  truly  as  ever  Isaiah  had  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem. 
Though  no  special  prophecy  may  be  entrusted  to  you  and 
me,  we  have  the  task  as  certainly  as  any  other  person. 
God's  voice  sounds  to  me  by  the  very  possession  of  God's 
Truth,  and  by  all  the  faculties  that  I  have  for  the  com- 
municating of  it,  if  I  have  got  it  and  if  I  can  do  any- 
thing to  spread  it,  there  is  the  obligation.  If  I  myself 
see  the  light,  I  am  bound  to  try  to  show  it  to  other 
people.  Whatever  I  have  is  my  brother's.  Most  of 
all,  if    I   have  Christ  for   my    Saviour,   that    makes  it   a 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  171 


crime  in  me  if  I  do  not  carry  Him,  somehow,  to  other 
people.  I  don't  care  about  how.  I  don't  so  much  care 
about  to  whom.  If  your  ears  were  purged,  and  if  the  noise 
of  the  voices  of  earth,  the  whispering  of  worldly  conscious- 
ness, and  the  rush  of  worldly  traffic,  were  once  a  little 
hushed,  you  would  hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  "  Whom 
shall  I  send,  and  who  will  go  for  us  ?  " 

(2)  The  next  point  is :  God  wants  no  pressed  men. 
"  Who  will  go  for  us  ? "  It  must  be  volunteers  that  do 
this  work.  Unless  with  the  consent  and  assent  of  their 
own  wills  and  desires,  the  service  is  nothing.  Moses, 
when  the  charge  was  laid  upon  him,  was  reluctant,  and 
he  could  not  be  taken  as  God's  messenger  till  his  will 
had  been  brought  right.  And  here  at  the  very  begin- 
ning comes  out  the  great  thought :  all  the  work  that  has 
to  be  done  for  God  and  Christ  in  the  world  must  be 
done  by  men  actuated  by  motives  above  the  low  level  of 
duty,  and  who  have  got  up  to  the  lofty  level  of  inclina- 
tion and  choice ;  and  unless  with  our  whole  heart  and 
will  we  do  it,  we  shall  not  do  it  at  all. 

(3)  Look  at  that  lovely  and  profound  thought,  that  the 
men  who  hear  God's  voice  and  accept  the  charge  that 
He  gives  them,  are  in  some  sense — I  was  going  to  say 
— helping  and  delighting  and  representing  God  in  the 
world.  "  Who  shall  go  for  us  ?  "  "  for  My  behoof " — 
that  means  when  we  speak  about  one  another — "in 
order  to  further  my  desires."  And  may  we  not  transfer 
that  to  God  and  our  relationship  to  Him  ?  As  the 
Apostle  said  long  ago :  "  Now,  then,  we  are  ambassa- 
dors for  Christ."  That  is  to  say  :  if  you  will  go  and  try 
to  speak  to  some  little  child  ;  or  to  some  outcast ;  or  to 
some  English  heathen,  you  may  gladden  and  strengthen 
yourself  with  the  thought  that  you  are  doing  the  thing  on 
which  God's  heart  is  set  ;  that  you  are  working  to  realize 
His  wishes  ;  helping  Christ  to  come  nearer  the  travail  of 
His  soul  and  the  satisfaction  therein  ;  that  you  are  labouring 
in  the  line  in  which  the  Divine  longing  runs  ;  and  that  you 
are  His  instruments  and  means  of  effecting  the  purpose 
that  is  nearer  His  heart  than  any  other — that  men  should 
know  His  love,  and  in  the  knowledge  should  be  pure  and 
good. 

II.   (1)   Let  us  now  bring  out  the  thought  of  this  second 


U-' 


172  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

part  of  my  text ;  the  great  answer  that  is  here  given  :  "  Then 
said  I,  Here  am  I,  send  me."  Swift,  almost  instinctive,  and 
with  a  very  unmistakable  tone  of  gladness,  the  man's  heart 
leaps  up  to  meet  the  honour.  He  rejoices  that  the  com- 
mission is  laid  upon,  him,  and,  willingly,  as  one  that  has 
received  a  great  distinction  and  a  high  preferment,  says, 
"  Take  me,  take  me ! "  and  steps  out  into  the  front,  a 
volunteer — if  it  be  for  a  forlorn  hope,  never  mind — "  take 
me."  And  so  I  want  to  dwell  upon  this  :  that  there  must 
be  a  joyful  acceptance  of  this  charge.  "  Collections ! 
collections  !  collections  !  nothing  but  collections  !  always 
begging  for  money  1  Work  !  work  !  work  !  always  telling 
us  to  do  this,  that,  and  the  other.  What  a  weight  it  is. 
How  much  of  our  ease,  how  much  of  our  wealth,  how 
much  of  our  effort  we  are  asked  to  tithe  for  His  service." 
You  grudge  it  often.  I  do  not  know  that  any  of  us  have 
ever  come  to  the  height  of  right  joyful  acceptance  of  the 
charge,  feeling  it  rather  to  be  a  blessing  than  a  burden, 
rather  a  gladness  than  a  mere  duty  to  be  done  in  the  spirit 
of  a  slave.  "  Unto  me  is  this  grace  given,  that  I  should 
preach  among  the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ."  No  lovelier,  tenderer  sign  of  regard  and  con- 
fidence could  be  given  us  from  God  than  taking  us  to  be 
the  signatures  of  His  name  and  the  savour  of  His  love  to 
the  folk  round  about  us.  But,  I  think,  if  Jesus  Christ  had 
never  said,  "Go  ye  out  into  all  the  world";  or  had  He 
withdrawn  that  injunction,  or  taken  away  the  permission 
to  speak  a  word  in  His  name,  we  should  very  soon  have 
begged  Him  with  tears  in  our  eyes  to  give  it  us  back 
again,  and  yet  our  reluctance  should  teach  our  conscience 
that  it  is  a  burden  to  give  our  money,  our  interest,  and 
our  work — to  say,  "  Here  am  I,  send  me." 

(2)  Look  how  complete  this  surrender  is  in  quantity 
and  in  quality.  As  for  quantity,  extending  over  all  the  re- 
gions of  life.  That  is  the  true  dignity  of  a  man's  life,  and 
the  highest  bliss  of  it  too,  when  in  all  regions,  and  about 
everything,  he  feels,  I  am  His  servant — and  does  all  the 
common  things  of  life,  the  daily  duties  of  our  trade  or 
calling  or  profession  ;  does  them  all  in  this  spirit  :  "  Here 
am  I,  take  me  and  breathe  Thy  Spirit  and  Thy  Grace 
through  me,  and  make  me  like  one  of  those  organ  pipes, 
vocal  with  the  mighty  rush  of  the  storm-wind  that  comes 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  173 

from  Thyself — the  might  that  makes  life  sweet,  serene, 
noble,  pure,  strong."  But  then  apart  from  that,  look  at 
these  other  points  which  I  only  name.  How  in  this  there 
is  nothing  left  but  complete  surrender  of  will,  so  as  that  I 
do  not  go  picking  and  choosing  amongst  my  work,  and 
saying,  "  I  will  do  this,"  and  "  I  won't  do  that,"  but  how  I 
say,  "  Here  am  I,  use  me  for  anything,  use  me  for  anywhere, 
do  what  Thou  wilt  with  me  ;  I  am  Thine."  As  Loyola  used 
to  say,  like  the  stick  in  the  blind  man's  hand,  take  me  and 
do  anything  that  Thou  wilt  with  me,  and  set  me  down 
anywhere  ;  send  me,  Lord,  I  will  follow  Thee,  but,  but,  suf- 
fer me  first  to — to  something  or  other !  That  is  the  style 
of  the  most  of  us  :  "  certainly  I  recognise  the  obligation 
and  I  mean  to  discharge  it,  but — "  Take  these  two,  the 
one,  alas  !  the  type  of  the  imperfect  consecration  of  the 
mass  of  professing  Christians  of  to-day  ;  and  the  other 
the  example  of  what  we  ought  to  be. 

(3)  And  then  there  is  another  point,  and  that  is,  the 
intensely  personal  nature  of  this  joyful  and  complete 
responsibility.  A  man  brings  nought  as  his  possession  but 
himself,  and  lays  himself  down  there  on  the  altar.  That 
is  to  say,  the  greater  of  course  includes  the  less.  If  a  man 
yield  up  himself  he  will  yield  up  his  capacity,  his  relation- 
ships, his  money,  and  everything  else  he  has  got,  for  the 
service.  If  he  has  not  yielded  up  himself,  it  is  not  at  all 
likely  that  he  has  in  any  of  these.  But  mind  you  don't 
get  rid  of  your  responsiblity  by  hiring  a  substitute,  as  they 
used  to  do  in  the  old  militia  days  ;  you  can't  buy  your- 
self out  of  the  army,  by  putting  down  the  money  that  is 
needful  to  put  another  man  in  the  ranks.  And  now, 
dear  brethren,  is  there  no  young  man  ;  no  student  or 
other  young  person  who  ought  to  be  a  minister  of 
Christ  ?  Is  there  none  who  ought  to  go  away  and  be  a 
missionary  ?  Are  there  any  of  you  young  men  here 
that  have  felt  the  stirrings  of  that  duty  and  have 
stifled  them  ?  Take  care.  Is  there  no  young  woman  with 
culture  and  with  leisure  and  with  many  facilities,  who 
might  go  down  into  some  of  the  back  slums  of  the  city 
and  do  some  good  somewhere  ?  Are  there  no  parents  here 
who  have  children  given  to  their  charge  to  train  and 
mature  for  Christ,  and  who  have  partially  neglected  that 
duty?     It  is  all  very  well  to  send  your  children  to  Sunday 


174  OUTLINES    ON  THE 

School  that  you  may  get  a  quiet  Sunday  afternoon.  That 
is  not  doing  your  duty.  Let  us  bring  down  the  thing  to 
the  folks  that  are  nearer  to  us.  Is  there  not  a  man  here 
above  the  lower  classes  who  might  with  unpurchased 
service  go  in  unto  these  people  and  speak  about  Christ  ? 
Depend  upon  it,  it  is  not  the  paid  men  that  will  convert 
the  world.  It  is  not  professional  ministers,  it  must  be  you, 
who  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  a  selfish  motive  to  serve  ; 
you  are  the  men  as  much  as  us  to  whom  this  charge  is 
entrusted. 

(4)  Notice  how  this  glad  responsibility,  that  comes  from 
my  text,  how  it  is  all  rooted  in  a  vision  of  God  and  an 
experience  of  forgiveness.  It  was  because  the  coal  of  fire 
touched  his  lips  that  the  prophet  was  ready  to  say,  "  Here 
am  I,  send  me."  That  is  to  say,  no  surrender  of  the  soul 
that  I  have  been  speaking  about  is  possible  except  we 
have  been  drawn  to  the  vision,  and  there  said,  "  Lo,  I  am 
undone,"  and  then  had  the  coal  from  the  altar  of  sacrifice 
laid  upon  our  lips  and  our  hearts,  that  our  iniquity  may  be 
taken  away  and  our  sins  purged.  And  sure  I  am  that  the 
measure  of  my  sense  of  forgiveness  will  be  the  measure 
of  my  consecration  to  Christ  ;  and  that  in  regard  to  work, 
and  in  regard  to  giving,  and  in  regard  to  self-surrender,  the 
principle  will  be  true  :  "  To  whomsoever  little  is  forgiven 
the  same  loveth  little."  I  am  afraid  that  the  reason  why 
so  many  professing  Christian  people  never  speak  one  word 
for  their  Master,  and  grudge  their  gifts  for  His  cause,  and 
are  so  sparing  in  their  efforts,  and  are  so  reluctant  to  be 
pressed,  is  because  they  have  not  felt  His  pardoning 
mercy  ;  and  I  pray  you  to  look  very  diligently  in  your 
own  hearts,  and  to  see  whether  the  sense  of  forgiveness 
has  not  waxed  dim,  and  the  vision  of  God  pale  and  un- 
real, and  so  the  consciousness  of  obligation  become  poor 
and  faint,  and  the  consecration  to  His  service  wavering 
and  reluctant. 

A.  M. 

XCI.     The  Prince  of  Peace.     Isa.  ix.  6.     "  The  Prince  ? 

of  Peaces 

This  is  the  climax  of  the  titles  which  were  to  belong  to 
the  mysterious  Child,  who  in  the  course  of  time  was  to  be 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  175 

born  to  Israel.  For  us,  the  children  of  men,  He  is  the 
author  of  one  of  the  best  blessings  which  a  fallen  and  dis- 
tracted race  can  know  :   He  is  "  The  Prince  of  Peace." 

The  bearer  of  this  title  was  not  simply  Himself  to  reign 
in  a  sphere  of  peace.  He  was  to  enlarge  and  carry  forward 
the  range  of  its  blessings. 

Peace  is  not  the  first  effort  of  the  work  of  Christ,  but  its 
flower  and  crown.  Let  us  enquire  how  far  the  Prince  of 
Peace  has  made  good  His  title. 

I.  What  is  the  sphere  wherein  is  displayed  the  peace  of 
Christ  ?  Is  it  the  world  at  large?  Undoubtedly  to  estab- 
lish peace  in  this  sphere  is  our  blessed  Master's  ultimate 
aim — peace  between  families,  between  nations — peace  not 
at  any  price,  but  at  the  price  of  mutual  self-sacrifice.  But 
He  takes  His  time.  The  Prince  of  Peace  works  in  the 
centuries.  He  can  afford  to  wait.  As  in  the  days  of  His 
flesh,  so  in  history,  He  teaches  men  only  as  they  are  able 
to  bear  His  teaching.  If  He  delays  this  work  this  is  no 
proof  that  He  will  not  complete  it  and  that  the  world  will 
not  be  subject  to  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

II.  Is  the  Christian  Church  the  sphere  in  which  we  may 
contemplate  the  peace  of  Christ  ?  This  is  not  an  unreason- 
able expectation,  and  here  again  prophecy  has  drawn  a 
picture  which  might  encourage  it,  and  which  haunts  the 
conscience  of  a  divided  Christendom.  "  The  wolf  also 
shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  shall  lie  down 
with  the  kid,  and  the  calf  and  the  young  lion,  and  a  little 
child  shall  lead  them."  The  secret  of  this  union  of  the 
unlike  is  to  be  found  in  Him  who  is  the  common  attraction 
of  all.  "And  in  that  day  there  shall  be  a  root  of  Jesse, 
which  shall  stand  for  an  ensign  of  the  people."  The  nearer 
the  separated  Churches  draw  to  Christ,  the  nearer  do  they 
draw  to  each  other. 

III.  Is  the  life  of  the  individual  Christian  the  sphere  in 
which  we  may  look  for  the  peace  of  Christ  ?  Here  it  is 
that  the  Prince  of  Peace,  from  the  first  and  until  now,  has 
set  up  His  standard  and  established  His  empire.  His 
reign  in  a  single  soul  depends  only  upon  the  loyal  disposi- 
tion of  a  single  will  ;  whereas  His  reign  in  the  Church  and 
in  the  world  depends  upon  the  dispositions  of  millions 
of  wills.  From  this  peace  of  Christ  in  the  Christian  soul, 
peace  gradually  radiates  into  the  world  at  large  and  leavens 


176  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

the  mass  around.     All  can   contribute  something  to  His 
work  if  he  will. 

H,  P.  L. 


XCIL    The  Wells  of    Salvation.     Isa.  xii.  3.     "There- 
fore with  joy  shall  ye  draw  water  out  of  the  wells  of  salvation." 

There  are  two  events  far  separated  from  each  other,  which 
have  a  bearing  upon  this  prophecy.  The  one  supplied  the 
occasion  for  its  utterance ;  the  other  claimed  to  be  its 
interpretation  and  its  fulfilment. 

The  first  of  them  is  that  scene  familiar  to  us  all,  when 
the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness,  murmuring  for  water,  and 
the  lawgiver  being  at  his  wits'  end  what  to  do  with  his 
troublesome  subjects,  took  his  anxieties  to  God,  and  got 
for  an  answer  the  command  to  take  with  him  the  elders  of 
Israel  and  his  miracle-working  rod  and  to  go  to  the  rock, 
"  and  the  Lord  shall  stand  upon  the  rock  before  thee,  and 
the  water  shall  flow  forth."  It  was  not  the  rock,  nor  the 
rod,  nor  Moses  and  the  elders,  but  the  presence  of  God  that 
brought  the  refreshing  draught.  And  that  that  incident 
was  in  Isaiah's  mind  when  he  wrote  this  text  is  clear  to 
anybody  who  will  observe  that  it  occurs  in  the  middle  of  a 
song  of  praise,  which  corresponds  to  the  Israelites'  song  at 
the  Red  Sea,  and  is  part  of  a  great  prophecy,  in  which  he 
describes  God's  future  blessings  and  mercies  under  images 
constantly  drawn  from  the  Egyptian  bondage  and  the  exo- 
dus in  the  desert.  Now  that  interpretation,  or  application, 
of  the  text  was  very  familiar  to  the  Jews  long  before  the 
New  Testament  was  thought  about.  For  there  came  in  the 
course  of  time  a  number  of  ceremonies  added  to  the  Feast 
of  Tabernacles.  Amongst  them  there  was  this  one — that 
on  each  of  the  days  of  the  feast  the  priests  went  down  from 
the  Temple,  winding  down  the  rocky  path,  to  the  Pool  of 
Siloam,  and  there  in  their  golden  vases  they  drew  the  cool 
sparkling  water,  which  they  bore  up,  and  amidst  the  blare 
of  trumpets  poured  it  upon  the  altar,  whilst  the  people 
chanted,  "With  joy  shall  ye  draw  water  out  of  the  wells  of 
salvation."  That  ceremonial  had  been  going  on  for  eight 
hundred  years  from  Isaiah's  time,  and  once  more  the  period 
came  round  when  it  was  to  be  performed,  and  on  the  six 
days  of  the  feast  the  same  ceremonial  went  on.     On  the 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  177 

last  great  day,  just  as  the  last  notes  of  the  chant  of 
our  text  were  dying  on  the  ears,  there  was  a  little  stir 
amidst  the  crowd,  and  a  youngish  man  of  mean  appearance 
and  rustic  dress  stepped  forward,  and  there  before  the 
gathered  multitudes  and  the  priests,  standing  with  their 
empty  urns,  symbol  of  the  impotence  of  their  system, 
Jesus  stood  and  cried,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come 
unto  Me  and  drink." 

Let  us  consider : 

I.  The  well  of  salvation.  The  idea  of  the  words  here 
is  not  that  which  we  attach  to  a  well,  but  that  which 
we  attach  to  a  spring.  It  does  not  describe  the  source  of 
salvation  as  being  a  mere  reservoir,  still  less  as  being  a 
created  thing,  but  there  lies  in  it  the  deep  idea  of  a  source 
from  which  tiie  water  wells  up  by  its  own  inward  energy. 

Who  is  the  well-spring  of  this  salvation  ?  The  first 
answer,  and  the  last,  is  God.  The  possession  of  God  is 
salvation,  that  and  nothing  else.  And  because  it  comes  un- 
moti*ed,  uncaused,  self-originated,  springing  up  from  the 
depths  of  His  own  heart  ;  because  it  is  all  effected  by  His 
own  mighty  work,  who  has  trodden  the  winepress  alone 
and  single-handed,  has  wrought  the  salvation  of  the  race, 
and  because  its  essence  and  loving  heart  is  the  communi- 
cation of  God  Himself,  and  the  bestowing  upon  us  the 
participation  in  a  Divine  nature,  therefore  the  depths  of  the 
thought,  God  Himself  is  the  well-fountain  of  salvation. 

Let  us  try  and  figure  to  ourselves  the  significance  and 
the  strangeness  of  that  moment  when  a  man  stood  up  in 
the  Temple  court,  and  with  distinct  allusion  to  the  whole 
of  the  series  of  Old  Testament  sayings,  in  which  God  and 
the  communication  of  God's  own  energy  were  represented 
as  being  the  fountain  of  salvation,  and  the  salvation  from 
the  fountain,  said,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  Him  come  unto 
Me."  "  Who  art  Thou  that  dost  thus  plant  Thyself  oppo- 
site the  race  ;  sure  that  Thou  hast  no  needs  like  thfem,  but 
contrariwise,  must  refresh  and  satiate  the  thirsty  lips  of 
them  all  ? "  And  these  words  crossed  the  lips  of  Him  who, 
in  almost  the  same  breath  said,  "  I  am  meek  and  lowly  of 
heart."  Strange  lowliness  !  Singular  meekness  !  Who  is 
He  that  steps  into  the  place  that  God  fills,  and  says,  "  I 
can  do  it  all.  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  Me 
and   drink "  ?      May  every  one  of  us  be  able  to  answer, 

N 


178  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

"  Thou  art  the  King  of  Glory,  O  Christ  ;  Thou  art  the 
everlasting  Son  of  the  Father.  With  Thee  is  the  fountain 
of  life  ;  Thou  Thyself  art  the  living  water."  The  cross  of 
Christ  is  the  realization  of  the  Divine  intention,  and  then 
He  who  from  everlasting  was  the  strength  and  song  of  all 
the  strong  and  the  songful,  is  become  the  salvation  of  all 
the  lost,  and  the  fountain  is  "opened  for  sin  and  for  un- 
cleanness/' 

II.  The  act  of  drawing  the  water.  This  metaphor  with- 
out any  further  explanation  might  naturally  suggest  more 
idea  of  human  effort  than  in  reality  belongs  to  it.  The 
question  is,  how  am  I  to  bring  myself  into  contact  with 
this  water,  and  there  has  been  nothing  but  a  great  jangling 
of  empty  buckets,  and  aching  of  wearied  elbows,  and  what 
the  woman  said  to  Christ  has  been  true  all  round  :  "  Sir, 
Thou  hast  nothing  to  draw  with,  and  the  well  is  deep." 
Thank  God  it  is  deep,  and  if  we  let  our  Lord  be  His  own 
interpreter,  you  have  only  to  put  together  three  sayings  to 
find  the  true  meaning  of  this  matter.  Hear  His  voice.  "  If 
thou  knewest  the  gift  of  God,  and  who  it  is  that  saith  to 
thee,  give  Me  to  drink,  thou  wouldest  have  asked  of  Him, 
and  He  would  have  given  thee  living  water."  So  then 
drawing  is  asking.  Again,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him 
come  unto  Me  and  drink."  So  then  drawing,  or  asking,  or 
coming,  are  all  equivalent.  Again,  "  He  that  cometh  unto 
Me  shall  never  hunger,  and  he  that  believeth  on  Me  shall 
never  thirst."  So  then  all  melt  into  the  one  simple  word, 
trust  in  Him,  and  thou  hast  come,  hast  asked,  hast  drawn, 
dost  possess. 

III.  The  gladness  of  the  water  drawers.  It  is  a  pretty 
picture  in  our  text,  full  of  the  atmosphere  and  spirit  of 
Eastern  life ;  the  cheery  talk  and  the  ringing  laughter 
round  the  village  well,  where  the  shepherds  with  their 
flocks  linger,  and  the  maidens  from  their  tents  came. 

So  we  have  this  joy.  The  Gospel  of  Jesus  is  meant  for 
something  better  than  to  make  us  glad,  but  it 'is  meant  to 
make  us  glad  too,  and  He  is  but  a  very  poor  Christian 
who  has  not  found  that  it  is  the  joy  and  rejoicing  of  his 
heart.  There  is  the  gladness  of  forgiven  sin  and  a  quieted 
conscience.  There  is  the  joy  of  a  conscious  possession  of 
good.  There  is  the  joy  of  fellowship  and  communion  with 
Jesus.     There  is   the  joy  of  willing  obedience.     There  is 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  179 

the  joy  of  a  bright  hope  of  an  inheritance  "  incorruptible." 
And  there  is  the  joy  which  is  independent  of  circumstances, 
and  can  say,  "  Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom, 
neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines,  yet  I  will  rejoice  in  the 
Lord." 

There  is  an  old  prophecy  in  this  book  of  Isaiah  :  "  Ho, 
every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters/'  That 
was  the  voice  of  Christ  in  prophecy.  There  is  a  saying 
spoken  in  Temple  courts,  "  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come 
unto  Me  and  drink  ;  "  that  was  the  voice  of  the  Christ  upon 
earth.  There  is  a  saying  at  the  end  of  Scripture,  "  Who- 
soever will,  let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely  ; "  that 
was  the  voice  of  the  Christ  from  the  throne.  And  the 
triple  invitation  comes  to  every  soul  of  man  in  the  world, 
and  to  thee,  and  thee,  and  thee  my  brother.  Answer ! 
Answer  !  "  Sir,  give  me  this  water,  that  I  thirst  not,  neither 
come  hither  of  broken  cisterns  any  more  to  draw." 

A.  M. 

XCIII.  A  Worldly  Life.  Isa.  xvii.  10,  11.  uBecause 
thou  hast  forgottefi  the  God  of  thy  salvation,  and  hast  not 
been  mindful  of  the  Rock  of  thy  strength,  therefore  shall  thou 
plant  pleasant  plants,  and  shall  set  it  with  strange  slips ;  in 
the  day  shalt  thou  make  thy  plant  to  grow,  a?id  in  the  morning 
shall  thou  make  thy  seed  to  flourish  ;  but  the  harvest  shall  be  a 
heap  in  the  day  of  grief  and  of  desperate  sorrow." 

The  thing  that  led  to  the  utterance  of  the  prophet  here, 
and  the  thing  that  is  referred  to  in  the  utterances,  is  the 
alliance  which  was  made  between  the  king  of  Israel  and 
the  heathen  king  of  Damascus.  A  very  small  affair,  you 
say,  to  be  spoken  about  in  such  language.  But  then  it  is 
to  be  remembered  that  the  very  secret  of  the  being  of  that 
kingdom  both  of  Israel  and  of  Judah  was  to  be  living  and 
trusting  in  God.  And  so,  when  they  saw  out  there  on  the 
northern  horizon,  the  gathering  and  the  threaten ings  of 
that  Assyrian  invasion,  it  indicated  an  utter  departure 
from  their  true  strength  that  they  should  go  about  seek- 
ing political  alliances.  And  the  prophet  being  dead 
against  such  entangling  alliances,  is  here  describing  the 
reason  wny  they  had  been  formed,  and  the  pains  which 
they  had  taken   to   foster   them,    and  the    miserable    end 


T8o  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

to  which  it  was  all  going  to  come.  "  Slips,"  by  which 
he  means  the  cultivation  of  that  dangerous,  entangling 
alliance  with  a  strange  people,  that  brought  in  a  relax- 
ation of  the  austere  morals  of  the  nation,  and  led  to 
sensuousness  and  idolatry.  And  then  there  comes  the 
bitter  contemptuous  description  of  two  things — the  ex- 
traordinary rapidity  with  which  this  plant  of  theirs  was 
growing  "  in  the  day  thou  makest  thy  plant  to  grow, 
and  in  the  morning  the  seed  has  flourished."  Ill  weeds 
grow  apace  ;  the  thing  that  I  have  planted,  and  cared 
for,  and  tended,  has  sprung  up  very  fast  in  all  conscience ; 
there  has  been  no  time  wasted,  and  you  have  got  the 
thing  immediately.  Yes,  and  while,  like  Jonah  and  his 
gourd,  you  are  rejoicing  in  the  quick  growth  of  this  plant 
you  have  planted,  the  prophet  with  his  clear  eye  sees  it 
ripening  for  the  harvest,  and  sees  that  all  its  bravery  and 
greenery,  all  its  beauty  and  florescence,  all  its  swift  growth 
and  apparent  success,  is  going  to  come  to  waste.  A  little 
heap  of  a  dry  bit  of  green  there  in  the  day  of  grief  and 
desperate  sorrow,  or  in  the  day  of  pain  and  incurable 
sickness,  and  so  tells  them,  pointing  first  of  all  to  the 
secret  of  all  worldly  life,  pointing  next  to  the  pains  that 
men  take  to  secure  their  ends  in  worldly  things  and  the 
apparent  success  which  often  attends  their  efforts,  and 
pointing  lastly  to  the  end  of  it  all. 

I.  I  begin  with  that  indictment  "Because  thou  hast 
forgotten  the  God  of  thy  salvation,  and  hast  not  been 
mindful  of  the  Rock  of  thy  strength."  Now  notice  the 
accuracy  and  moderation  of  the  language  here,  and  how 
precisely  it  fits  to  the  fact  of  the  condition  of  most  of 
the  people — up  and  down  and  round  about  us — that  yet 
call  themselves  religious  people.  There  is  no  overstrained 
charge,  which  men  do  not  respond  to,  of  hating  God  ;  there 
is  no  exaggeration  of  either  crime  or  breach  of  discipline. 
He  does  not  say  a  word  about  anything  positive.  He 
confines  himself  to  the  plain  fact,  and  that  a  negative 
fact — "  thou  hast  forgotten  " — that  is  all.  "  I  don't  say  you 
have  blasphemed  ;  I  don't  say  you  have  rebelled  against 
Him,  or  risen  up  and  declared  your  unbelief  in  Him  ; 
that  you  are  sceptics,  agnostics,  atheists ;  that  you  are 
profligate  men  ;  not  that  you  are  living  in  open  rebellion 
against  Him.     But  you   have  forgotten  Him.     No  more; 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  181 

"  not  so  wide  as  a  church  door,"  but  it  will  serve.  The 
life's  -blood  will  ebb  out  at  that  wound.  Take  to-day, 
which  I  suppose  will  be  likely  to  have  in  it  more  religious 
glances  in  our  minds  and  hearts  than  most  days, — how 
much  of  our  clear  conscious  meditation  and  thought  has 
it  seen  ?  how  many  waves  of  thought  have  brought  down 
with  them  this  golden  sand  ?  how  much  has  been  forget- 
fulness  of  Him.  And  when  you  go  to  business  to-morrow 
morning,  what  about  it  there  ?  How  many  things  do  you 
think  you  will  do  to-morrow,  or  refrain  from  doing,  be- 
cause of  that  thought,  which  ought  to  be  the  living  and 
the  happy  thought,  of  that  Great  Friend  in  the  heaven 
there.  About  a  great  many  this  will  be  true  :  "  God  is 
not  in  all  their  thoughts."  I  do  not  charge  you  with  being 
bad  men.  I  do  not  want  you  to  shield  your  consciences 
with  searching  for  faults  that  you  have  not  committed.  I 
am  fearful  of  overstraining  any  word  which  I  want  to  get 
a  response  to  in  your  own  consciences  ;  and  so  I  come  and 
say  "  thou  hast  forgotten  the  God  of  thy  salvation,  and 
hast  not  been  mindful  of  the  Rock  of  thy  strength."  The 
prophet  not  only  with  precise  accuracy  puts  his  finger  upon 
the  real  condition  of  the  great  bulk  of  men  who  are  not 
thoroughly  and  out  and  out  religious  people  ;  but  that  he 
suggests  rather  than  expresses  two  things.  First  :  what  a 
wrong  thing  that  oblivion  is.  And  then,  what  an  intensely 
stupid  thing  it  is.  "  Thou  hast  forgotten  the  God  of  thy 
salvation,  thou  hast  not  been  mindful  of  the  Rock  of  thy 
strength." 

What  a  profound  piece  of  wicked  ingratitude  it  is  that 
you  and  I,  drawing  from  Him  all  our  strength,  who  is  the 
basis  upon  which  our  very  lives  are  built,  and  who  is  He 
with  which  all  our  minds  are  enlarged, — that  we  should 
thus,  day  by  day,  go  on  forgetting  and  neglecting  and 
shutting  our  hearts  and  thoughts  against  Him.  And 
again,  what  an  immensely,  unspeakably  stupid  thing  it  is  ; 
you  cannot  get  any  metaphor  that  will  adequately  express 
the  absurdity  of  a  man  turning  his  back  upon  God — turn- 
ing his  face  and  opening  his- heart  to  the  world.  The 
prophet  here  seems  to  have  a  metaphor  hidden  in  his 
language,  which  is  a  very  striking  one.  He  says  to  them 
in  effect,  "  why,  what  unwisdom  it  is  of  you  to  come  down 
from  the  Munitions  of  Rocks  where  your  fortress  is,  down 


1 82  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

on  to  the  flat  where  there  is  no  defence  and  no  security  for 
you.  To  barter  gold  for  tinsel,  and  precious  stones  for  glass. 
To  give  up  realities  in  order  to  get  dreams.  To  abandon 
a  treasure  and  grasp  at  the  shadow.  To  leave  a  safe 
defence  and  to  trust  yourself  in  the  open.  All  these 
things  are  reasonable,  and  sane,  and  wise,  and  good  in- 
vestments as  compared  with  the  folly  of  which  a  man  is 
guilty  that  turns  away  his  love  and  desire  from  God  and 
fixes  them  upon  anything  besides.  The  maddest  thing 
that  a  man  or  a  woman  can  do  is  "to  forget  the  God 
of  his  Salvation  and  the  Rock  of  his  strength."  There  is 
only  one  thing  that  can  come  of  it,  and  the  prophet  goes 
on  to  tell  us  what  that  one  thing  is. 

II.  That  is  to  say  there  is  a  second  thought  which 
forces  itself  upon  the  prophet's  mind  here,  which  is  also 
as  susceptible  of  a  far  wider  application,  namely,  the 
appearance  made  of  apparent  success,  for  a  time,  of  a  life 
that  is  built  upon  this  forgetfulness  of  God.  Look  how 
very  striking  that  because  of  our  text  is.  "  Because  thou 
hast  forgotten,"  therefore  thou  shalt  plant,  &c.  Now 
notice  in  vivid,  clear  picturesque  language  this  thought : 
If  I  lose  my  hold  upon  God,  if  I  have  not  Him  to  set 
myself  upon,  I  am  driven  necessarily  to  all  sorts  of  pain- 
ful efforts  to  make  up  the  loss.  The  men's  hearts  were 
empty,  and  so  they  went  and  scrambled  for  anything  to 
fill  them.  They  had  lost  their  confidence  in  the  God  of 
their  salvation,  so  they  needed  to  get  this  bit  of  ground 
and  plant  it  to  grow  something  on  it  to  feed  them  and 
sustain  them,  which  being  translated,  is  just  this  :  the 
secret  of  the  feverish  activity  with  which  so  many  of 
you  are  living  that  your  inner  life  has  lost,  or  never 
had,  its  hold  upon  God  ;  and  so  conscious  of  a  great 
void,  and  restless  because  you  have  not  Him  to  repose 
upon,  you  try  all  sorts  of  things  in  order  to  fill  up  the 
gap.  That  is  why  some  of  you  work  so  hard  as  you  do 
at  your  business.  That  is  the  reason  why  some  of  you 
don't  care  to  cultivate  the  habit  of  solitary  thought.  That 
is  why  it  is  a  relief  to  a  great  many  of  us  to  have  some- 
thing to  do  that  will  help  us  to  turn  away  our  eyes  from 
the  unrest  that  is  within.  And  restless,  unsatisfied  you 
know  you  are,  and  you  keep  that  down  as  well  as  you 
can,  and  it  is  no  delight  to  talk  about  it.     But  sometimes 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  183 

the  grim  thing  pushes  itself  up  in  spite  of  all,  and  I  sup- 
pose that  I  touch  in  many  a  man's  innermost  experience 
when  I  say,  "  Because  thou  hast  forgotten  the  God  of 
thy  salvation,"  therefore  thou  hast  planted  these  pleasant 
plants. 

And  then  I  want  you  to  notice  how  too  there  comes 
out  of  this  text  the  other  thought  :  that  it  is  far  harder 
work  to  get  the  satisfaction  out  of  the  other  things, 
than  to  remember  the  "  God  of  your  salvation."  There 
had  to  be  a  planting  of  pleasant  plants,  and  a  setting  out 
of  strange  slips,  and  making  plants  to  grow,  and  so  on. 
God  puts  us,  every  one  of  us,  into  an  Eden — for  life  with 
Him  is  always  an  Eden — and  says  to  us,  thou  shalt  dress 
it,  and  till  it,  and  when  it  is  done  it  shall  smile  back  to 
thee  with  harvest,  and  thou  shalt  eat  the  fruit  of  thy 
labour.  There  is  nothing  in  this  world  that  is  so  weary- 
ing as  doing  what  this  text  says  :  planting  plants  of 
pleasure ;  and  when  a  man  once  gets  that  into  his  head 
as  the  thing  that  he  is  to  try  for,  it  is  all  over  with  him. 
Plants  of  pleasure.  Plants  of  duty,  these  are  the  things 
which  it  is  easier  to  grow  after  all.  They  are  like  the 
flowers  and  corn  that  spring  up  everywhere  ;  and  the 
plants  of  pleasure  are  like  the  greenhouse  plants,  that 
take  no  end  of  cockering  and  glass  and  care,  and  after 
all  are  scentless  and  perishable  as  well  as  gaudy.  I  do 
not  think  there  is  anything  in  this  world  so  wearisome  as 
taking  upon  ourselves,  and  making  in  any  of  its  forms, 
pleasure,  instead  of  God,  the  end  and  duty  of  our  lives. 
It  is  a  far  easier  thing  after  all  to  cultivate  duty  than 
delight,  and  men  have  to  take  a  great  deal  more  pains 
to  please  themselves  than  they  need  to  take  to  save 
themselves.  God  is  given  away  ;  but  the  world's  law  is 
nothing  for  nothing. 

So  there  comes  out  of  these  vigorous  words  another 
thought,  and  that  is  :  that  hard  as  the  work  is  which  a 
God-forgetting  life  brings,  it  is  brightened  very  often  with 
a  very  quick  and  apparent  success.  The  profits  may  be 
small,  but  the  returns  are  very  often  quick.  If  a  man  lays 
himself  out  for  some  mere  shoddy  vulgar  kind  of  delight, 
he  can  generally  get  it.  If  a  man  makes  these  things 
the  object  of  his  life,  the  more  easy  he  is  swiftly  to  get 
them.     One  day  he  plants,  and  in  the  morning  there   is 


1 84  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

the  blossom.  And  then  people  chuckle  and  say,  "  Ah, 
you  Christian  men,  look  here,  who  are  living  for  a  very 
far-off  future,  is  not  our  life  wise,  we  who  live  for  the 
things  we  can  put  our  hands  on  ? "  It  is  like  Jonah's 
gourd,  it  springs  up  in  the  night,  and  so,  I  may  get 
pleasure,  sensual  pleasures — the  narrower  advantages  of 
worldly  lives  you  may  get  very  marked  and  very  thor- 
oughly. 

III.  But  while  you  are  standing  there  looking  at  the 
beanstalk  that  has  grown  up  since  the  morning,  and 
thinking  what  a  wise  man  you  have  been  to  plant  it, 
there  it  is  green  and  grey,  grown  up  quickly,  and  Bend- 
ing down  with  its  clusters  of  fruit — they  will  not  be  very 
refined  in  their  taste,  it  may  be  rather  a  vulgar  kind  of 
fruit — but  there  it  is,  you  have  got  it — there  is  no  deny- 
ing that — but  it  is  all  going  yellow,  it  is  ripening,  and 
that  means  it  is  getting  ready  for  the  harvest,  and  when 
the  harvest  day  comes,  of  all  that  towering  mass,  there 
will  be  nothing  left  but  just  that  little  heap  in  the  corner 
of  the  threshing  floor,  into  which  all  vegetation  and  luxu- 
riant verdure  of  a  life  is  somehow  shrivelled  and  shrunk 
up.  Well  that  may  mean,  as  a  very  solemn  and  true 
thing,  of  how  a  life  that  is  built  upon  the^forgetfulness 
of  God  carries  away  no  fruit  that  lasts.  I  wonder  how 
many  giant  oaks  of  the  forest  in  the  carboniferous  period 
went  to  make  a  seam  of  coal  as  thick  as  a  sixpence  ! 
That  is  the  way  that  pressure  is  put  upon  it  as  it  were. 
The  lives  of  godless  men  go  into  such  smallness.  There 
is  nothing  in  it,  my  dear  brother,  "  so  much  and  you  will 
bring  home  little "  ;  all  our  care,  our  effort,  the  strivings, 
the  creepings,  the  tortuosities,  the  lies,  the  tricks,  the 
struggles  of  seventy  years,  they  all  drop  out  of  the  empty 
hands,  and  the  man  goes  away,  in  all  points  as  he  came 
so  shall  he  go,  "  their  glory  shall  not  descend  to  them," 
the  harvest  shall  be  only  a  little.  And  then  I  need  not 
remind  you  of  how  the  prophet  here  in  reference  to  a  very 
small  matter  touches  upon  a  great  solemn  thought  that 
no  words  of  mine  can  do  anything  to  but  vulgarise,  so 
I  merely  name  it  and  leave  it  with  you.  That  all  my  life 
and  actions,  and  all  yours,  is  but  the  outcome  of  an  issue 
which  is  best  described  by  that  great  figure  of  the  harvest. 
"If  t'were  done,   t'were  well  it   were  done   quickly"   for 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  185 


many  of  us.  But  it  is  not  well  for  many  of  us.  I  durst 
not  dwell  upon  that  great  thought.  I  fear  to  weaken  the 
impression,  but  I  gather  it  into  one  word  :  "  Be  not  de- 
ceived !  God  is  not  mocked,  whatsoever  a  man  soweth, 
that,  that  shall  he  also  reap,"  himself  the  reaper,  himself 
the  sower.  And  if  we  sow  to  self,  the  issue  will  be  de- 
struction for  us  and  for  our  work.  If  we  take  Christ  for 
our  Saviour  and  sow  to  the  Spirit,  then  we  shall  come 
with  gladness,  bringing  our  sheaves  with  us,  and  the 
harvest  shall  be  an  abundance  in  the  day  of  gladness 
and  joy  unspeakable.  Oh,  dear  brother,  may  you  and  I 
find  ourselves  there,  when  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  shall 
come. 


A.  M. 


XCIV.  Waiting  for  God.  Isa.  xxv.  9.  "And  it  shall 
be  said  in  that  day,  Lo,  this  is  our  God ;  we  have  waited 
for  Him,  and  He  will  save  us." 

Here  we  have  the  great  ceaseless  song  of  Christendom 
rejoicing  beneath  the  throne  of  Christ,  congratulating  Him 
on  His  triumphs,  on  His  glorious  presence  and  power — 
looking  back  to  the  ages  which  preceded  His  advent — 
looking  forward  to  the  completeness  of  His  salvation  yet 
to  be  revealed.  Let  us  try  to  enter  even  ever  so  little  into 
the  words  of  this  song,  in  which  we  ought  to  be  joining. 

I.  It  begins  with  a  discovery  :  "  Lo,  this  is  our  God," — not 
simply  "God,"  but  "our  God," — just  as  Christ  is  not  simply 
11  the  Lord,"  but  "  our  Lord."  He  belongs  to  us  ;  we 
may  have  a  share  in  Him  ;  we  may  presume  that  He  will 
befriend  us.  A  devout  Jew  on  his  conversion  felt  that  he 
had  found  in  Christ  the  warrant  and  verification  of  the 
religion  of  his  ancestors.  The  religion  of  Moses  had  been 
a  schoolmaster  to  bring  him  down  to  the  school  of  Christ. 
When  He  came,  the  true  Israel  did  recognise  Him  as  the 
heir  of  the  promises,  and  it  was  natural  to  say,  if  not  in 
words,  yet  in  spirit,  as  they  welcomed  Him,  "  Lo,  this  is 
our  God  ;  we  have  waited  for  Him."  If  the  Christian  sense 
is  alive  within  us,  our  hearts,  too,  sometimes  must  bound 
with  joy  at  the  sense  of  possessing  the  eternal  Christ.  A 
good  half  of  Christian  worship  is  but  an  expression  of  this 


1 36  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

pure,  deep  joy.     Such  worship  has  no  meaning  for  those 
who  do  not  share  what  it  expresses. 

II.  "We  have  waited  for  Him."  We  have  here  the 
necessary,  the  precious,  discipline  by  which  souls  reach 
truth.  Truth  is  not  given,  once  for  all,  to  the  self-willed, 
to  the  impatient,  to  those  who  would  make  conditions  with 
the  Giver,  and  bid  Him  hasten  His  hand. 

Man  had  to  wait  from  Abraham  to  Moses,  from  Moses 
to  David,  from  David  to  Isaiah,  from  Isaiah  to  Malachi, 
from  Malachi  to  the  Baptist  ;  fulfilment  was  continuously 
postponed.  "  Though  it  tarry,  wait  for  it."  But  at  last, 
He,  so  long  anticipated,  came,  and  there  was  an  outburst 
of  joy  from  thankful  hearts.  The  exulting  chant,  "Lo, 
this  is  our  God,"  is  permitted  to  those  who  can  add,  "  we 
have  waited  for  Him." 

III.  ""He  will  come  and  save  us."  This  conviction  is 
the  climax  of  the  Christian's  joy.  The  salvation  is  begun, 
it  is  not  completed  here.  "  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we 
shall  be." 

H.  P.  L. 


XCV.  The  Lord  coming  out  of  His  place. 
ISA.  xxvi.  20,  21.  "  Come,  My  people,  enter  thou  into  thy  cham- 
bers, and  shut  thy  doors  about  thee:  hide  thyself  as  it  were  for 
a  little  moment,  until  the  indignation  be  overpast.  For,  behold, 
the  Lo?'d  cometh  out  of  His  place  to  punish  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth  for  their  iniquity." 

THIS  vivid  expression  of  the  prophet,  "  the  Lord  cometh 
out  of  His  place,"  is  an  accommodation  of  the  language 
which  we  should  use  naturally  in  speaking  of  finite  beings 
like  ourselves,  to  describe  the  actions  of  the  infinite  Being. 
Without  ceasing  God  makes  His  arm  felt  in  human  history. 
He  goes  forth  as  it  were  out  of  His  place,  equipped  for 
judgment,  by  extraordinary  providences,  to  visit  the  iniquity 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.  All  these  judgments  are 
a  call  to  religious  reflection,  to  solitude  and  to  prayer. 

The  language  of  the  invitation  here  is  based  upon  the 
record  of  the  flood.  Just  as  Noah  was  hidden  in  the  ark 
while  the  waters  of  God's  judgment  poured  down,  so,  when 
judgments  are  in  the  earth,  it  is  natural  for  His  servants  to 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  187 

withdraw  into  deeper  prayer.  "  Come,  My  people,  enter 
into  thy  closet." 

What  is  the  object  of  the  retirement  which  is  thus  re- 
commended to  Israel  ? 

I.  Israel  will  see  that  God  is  the  author  of  the  great 
judgment  on  the  nations.  One  of  the  faults  of  this  people, 
which  haunted  it  from  age  to  age,  was  that  it  did  not  see 
God  in  history — in  its  own  history,  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  "  The  ox  knoweth  his  owner,  but  Israel  doth  not 
know." 

II.  Israel  in  retirement  may  learn  something  of  God's 
purposes  in  judgment. 

III.  Israel  in  retirement  may  have  power  with  God  in 
judgment.  The  Israel  of  Isaiah's  day  could  do  little  or 
nothing  directly,  but  the  prophet  would  say  that  Israel  in 
his  chambers  might  yet  do  more  for  the  future  of  the  world 
than  if  David  still  ruled.  Prayers  are  distinct  powers 
which  contribute  to  influence  the  course  of  events  one  way 
or  another. 

We  ought  now  and  then,  every  one  of  us,  to  come  apart 
into  a  desert  place  with  Christ,  and  rest  awhile — to  enter 
into  our  chambers,  to  shut  our  doors,  to  hide  ourselves  a 
little  moment.  All  prayer  is  but  a  preparation  for  the 
supreme  moment  of  death — for  that  sight  of  Him  before 
whom  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away. 

H.  P.  L. 

XCVI.  Perfect  Peace.  Isa.  xxvi.  3.  "  Thou  wilt  keep 
him  in  perfect  peace,  whose  mind  is  stayed  on  thee:  because  he 
trust eth  in  thee." 

The  Scriptures  are  full  of  priceless  secrets,  and  here  is 
one  of  them — the  secret  of  trust  in  God  to  us  Christians — 
of  trust  in  God  as  revealed  to  us  in  His  Son  Jesus  Christ, 
as  the  sole  method  and  means  of  that  peace  which  we  all 
desire.  The  original  expresses  it  still  more  forcibly  in  its 
Semitic  simplicity,  "  Thou  thalt  keep  him  in  peace — peace — 
whose  mind  is  stayed  on  Thee."  It  is  not  a  promise  of 
freedom  from  sorrow  ;  it  is  not  a  promise  of  success  or 
prosperity  on  earth  ;  but  it  is  a  promise  of  that  inward 
peace,  of  that  heart's-ease  in  the  breast,  with  which  sorrow 
itself  is  a  tolerable  burden,  and  without  which  prosperity 


OUTLINES  ON  THE 


itself  is  a  questionable  boon.  If  we  be  God's  true  children 
then  we  are  in  possession  of  this  peace.  But  there  is  also 
a  false  peace.  There  is  the  simulated  contentment  of  a  hard 
indifference.  There  is  the  cynical  self-complacency  of  a 
moral  blindness.  There  is  the  dull  stupefaction  of  an  ob- 
stinate despair.  Such  is  the  peace  of  a  guilty  life,  but  such 
is  not  the  peace  of  God.  "  There  is  no  peace,  saith  my  God, 
to  the  wicked."  Let  us  look  at  these  words  of  the  text  by 
the  light  of  our  own  circumstances. 

I.  The  Christian  proves  their  truth  amid  personal  anxi- 
eties. Though  we  are  the  children  of  God,  yet  the  cares  of 
life  come  to  us  which  come  to  all.  They  are  the  necessary 
incentive  to  our  efforts.  But  how  differently  do  they  happen 
to  the  Christian  and  to  the  sinner.  How  far  more  bitter  is 
the  gnawing  restless,  faithless  misery  of  the  one  who  has 
no  hope  and  is  without  God  in  the  world,  and  the  chastened 
troubles  of  the  other,  who  daily  uplifts  a  holy  heart  in 
prayer  to  his  Father  in  heaven. 

II.  The  Christian  has  this  peace  in  midst  of  the  agita- 
tion and  unrest  of  the  world,  of  the  perils  of  institutions 
which  they  are  devoted,  of  the  perplexities  of  nations 
which  they  love.  The  issues  of  all  these  things  we  must 
leave  humbly,  calmly,  trustfully  with  God.  The  earth  is 
not  ours  nor  the  inhabiters  of  it  ;  neither  do  we  hold  up  the 
pillars  of  it.  Let  us  not  think  much  of  our  own  importance. 
Not  one  of  us  is  in  the  smallest  degree  necessary  either  to 
the  world  or  to  the  Church,  and  if  God  wants  champions 
for  His  truth,  so  little  need  has  He  of  us  that  He  could  at 
one  word  summon  twelve  legions  of  angels.  It  is  indeed 
our  honour  and  duty  to  array  ourselves  in  what  we  believe 
to  be  the  great  cause  of  God  ;  but  we  must  not  let  it  dis- 
hearten us  if  God  has  seemed  to  decree  that  for  our  punish- 
ment His  best  truths  shall  be  darkened.  Troubled  was 
the  life  of  David,  yet  he  could  say,  calmly  and  humbly, 
"  God  sitteth  above  the  water-floods,  and  God  remaineth 
a  King  for  ever."  And  fierce  armies  girdled  the  city  of 
of  Isaiah  ;  yet  he  could  thus  sing  with  the  sweet  iteration 
of  unshaken  confidence,  "Thou  shalt  keep  him  in  peace — 
peace — whose  mind  is  stayed  on  Thee." 

III.  The  Christian  may  have  "perfect  peace"  amid  the 
strife  of  tongues.  The  cleverness  of  the  world,  as  evinced 
by  its  daily  outpourings,  is  turbid  and  bitter,  angry,  full  of 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  189 

malice  and  evil  words  ;  and  whether  in  a  public  or  in  a 
private  capacity,  from  such  enmity  we  all  of  us  have  to 
suffer.  It  is  easy  enough,  if  we  desire  it,  to  win  the  praise 
of  men  ;  but  there  are  battles  in  which  we  ought  to  fight, 
and  not  only  to  draw  the  sword  but  even  to  fling  away  the 
scabbard.  And  when  we  do  this  there  are  plenty  of  voices 
which  will  bellow  against  us  in  the  shade.  When  we  have 
done  right  we  need  never  quail,  but  remember  Him  who 
pronounced  the  high  beatitude  on  the  persecuted,  and  re- 
member that  His  peace  differs  from  that  which  the  world 
gives,  in  this,  that  its  prime  essential  is  not  ease,  but  strife, 
not  self-indulgence,  but  self-sacrifice. 

IV.  There  is  yet  another,  the  heaviest  of  all  life's  troubles, 
in  which  this  promise  of  peace  comes  to  us  like  music  heard 
over  stormy  waters.  It  is  when  we  are  most  overwhelmed 
with  shame  and  sorrow  for  the  past.  Even  from  sin,  even 
from  the  self-destruction  of  an  evil  life,  God  can  deliver 
you  if  you  will  come  and  trust  in  Him  ;  and  for  you  here 
is,  in  all  its  fulness,  the  perfect  promise,  "  Thou  shalt  keep 
him  in  peace — peace — whose  mind  is  stayed  on  Thee,  and 
because  he  trusteth  in  Thee." 

F.  W.  F. 


XCVII.      Gradual     Revelation.      Isa.    xxviii.    10,    13. 
"Here  a  little,  and  there  a  little." 

This  text  expresses  with  extraordinary  exactness  a  pro- 
minent way  of  God  towards  man.  Have  you  considered 
the  manner  of  God's  revelation  of  His  will  to  His  people 
in  the  olden  times  ?  Have  you  considered  with  what  mar- 
vellous patience  and  consideration  it  was  conducted  ?  The 
will  of  God  has  not  flashed,  as  in  a  moment,  upon  the  minds 
of  His  people,  but  unfolded  by  degrees,  as  they  were  able 
to  receive  it.  And  when  through  unbelief  and  disobedience 
they  lost  it,  it  was  brought  back  to  them  by  fresh  messen- 
gers from  God.  Warnings  were  repeated,  precepts  were 
repeated.  The  Old  Testament  is  full  of  various  and  gra- 
cious repetition.  God  allowed  for  Israel's  slowness  to 
receive,  and  their  slackness  to  retain,  instruction.  So  He 
gave  them  line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept,  here  a  little 
and  there  a  little.     The  same  principle  runs  through  the 


190  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

New  Testament  also  ;  Jesus  Christ  did  not  deliver  His 
message  or  doctrine  once  for  all,  in  a  studied  manner.  He 
spoke  to  His  followers  as  they  were  able  to  bear  it.  He 
used  parables  and  illustrations,  which  half  concealed,  half 
disclosed  His  meaning.  He  encouraged  men  to  ask  ques- 
tions, and  gave  them  unexpected  answers  that  reached  be- 
yond into  deeper  truth.  He  recurred  to  His  great  themes 
again  and  again,  and  embedded  His  doctrine  as  no  other 
teacher  has  ever  embedded  doctrine  in  human  minds  and 
hearts,  and  fastened  it  into  the  memories  of  men  by  line 
upon  line,  precept  upon  precept.  The  apostolic  discourses 
are  full  of  the  same  kind  of  wisdom,  and  so  the  perfection 
of  the  Holy  Bible  is  built  up.  It  is  perfect  for  the  purpose 
which  the  divine  Author  of  the  Bible  intends.  We  must 
study  the  balancings  of  the  Book,  and  we  must  enter  into 
the  progressive  character  of  the  teaching  in  the  Bible,  as 
advancing  line  upon  line  towards  its  grand  consummation 
in  the  now  revealed  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

This  principle  of  God  runs  through  all  His  works  and 
through  all  His  training  of  His  people.  Omnipotence 
makes  no  haste.  It  is  impotence  that  is  in  a  hurry.  The 
earth  on  which  we  dwell  was  not  built  up  suddenly.  Again, 
look  at  man  ;  how  is  a  man  built  ?  of  body  and  mind  and 
heart  and  character.  Is  it  not  by  little  and  little  that  he 
grows  from  the  beginning  ?  Take  the  question  of  moral 
culture,  and  also  that  of  spiritual  advancement,  and  no 
otherwise  than  on  this  principle  can  they  be  attained. 

How  is  a  Christian  made  ?  By  a  process  to  which  these 
words  "  here  a  little  and  there  a  little,"  may  be  very  well 
applied. 

I.  How  does  a  Christian  receive  the  truth  by  the  faith 
of  which  he  is  purified  ?  Not  by  one  lesson,  but  by  many. 
He  sees  his  sin.  He  will  never  see  much  to  profit  till  he 
sees  his  sin.  Then  the  Holy  Spirit  shows  him  the  way  of 
pardon  and  peace  through  the  blood  of  Jesus  crucified  for 
his  sin.  He  gets  a  glimpse  and  yet  another  and  another. 
He  begins  to  perceive  more  of  the  beauty  and  all-sufficiency 
of  his  Saviour.  Further  truth  is  revealed,  and  thus  he  grows 
in  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  The 
Christian  is  helped  very  variously — a  little  here,  a  little 
there,  as  God  sees  best. 

II.  How   does   a    Christian  get  rid  of  indwelling  sin? 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  191 


The  promise  to  the  redeemed  nation  Israel  was,  "  Jehovah 
thy  God  will  put  out  these  nations  before  thee  by  little  and 
little."  So  it  is  with  the  redeemed  people  now  ;  it  is  the 
Lord  who  drives  out  the  Canaanites  from  their  land.  He 
will  not  do  it  while  you  are  sleeping ;  you  must  be  awake 
to  it.  He  will  do  it  through  your  effort.  He  will  do  it  by 
degrees.  The  warfare  is  much  checkered  but  the  Lord 
gives  recovery  from  and  deliverance  from  evil,  and  He  will 
preserve  His  people  unto  the  end.  He  will  drive  out  before 
your  face  foul  thoughts,  evil  desires  and  all  things  that 
defile  the  hearts  of  His  people,  and  they  shall  be  holy  and 
without  blemish. 

III.  How  does  a  Christian  learn  wisdom  and  sobriety  of 
mind  ?  It  is  not  a  miraculous  infusion  into  him  of  another 
mind  than  his  own.  It  is  his  own  mind  that  must  be  made 
wise,  and  a  man  can  never  be  made  wise  but  by  repeated 
exposures  of  his  folly.  God  who  gives  wisdom  liberally 
gives  it  upon  this  which  is  His  great  principle  of  working — 
this  principle  of  deliberation.  He  does  not  put  it  into  you, 
as  it  were  a  foreign  substance  poured  into  you.  He  makes 
it  your  own.  He  gives  it  you  so  as  to  work  it  into  your 
mind,  so  that  you  cannot  lose  it  again. 

IV.  How  does  a  Christian  gain  likeness  to  Jesus  ?  There 
is  a  progressive  assimilation  of  the  Christian  to  Christ  as 
by  line  upon  line,  touch  upon  touch.  Half-finished  portraits 
are  poor  things  to  look  at.  So  Christians  in  their  present 
state  of  progress  are  but  poor  objects  to  look  at.  You  can 
scarce  discern  in  such  Christians  as  we  are,  real  lineaments 
of  Jesus.  But  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  knows  how  to  perfect 
that  which  concerns  us  and  patiently  conform  us  all  to  the 
image  of  the  Son  of  God. 

D.  F. 

XCVIII.    The  Sealed  Book.     Isa.  xxix.  n,  12.    "And  the 

vision  of  all  is  become  unto  you  as  the  words  of  a  book  that  is 
sealed,  which  men  deliver  to  one  that  is  learned,  saying,  Read 
this,  I  pray  thee:  and  he  saith,  I  cannot ;  for  it  is  sealed: 
A  fid  the  book  is  delivered  to  him  that  is  not  learned,  saying, 
Read  this,  I  pray  thee  :  and  he  saith,  I  am  not  learned." 

Here  you  have  the  learned  and  the  unlearned  man,  and 
they  are  both  in  the  same  predicament.     Both  are  quite 


1 92  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

helpless  to  understand  or  explain  the  Divine  revelation,  but 
not  from  the  same  causes.  Sealed  or  unsealed,  the  book 
could  mean  nothing  to  the  one,  for  he  could  not  read  ;  to 
the  other  it  is  a  simple  matter — only  a  seal  that  keeps  the 
contents  from  him.  But  his  learning  cannot  break  the 
seal.  There  are  many  seals  which  learning  cannot  break. 
Poetry  is  a  sealed  book  to  many.  Art  and  music  are  a 
closed  world  to  hosts. 

The  vision  given  by  God  to  Isaiah  is  a  type,  one  of  the 
wonderful  series  of  revelations,  all  of  them  travelling  in 
the  direction  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  culminating 
therein.  Masters  in  this  or  that  field  of  knowledge,  leaders 
in  many  important  respects — it  has  no  signification  to  them. 
The  Gospel  is  to  them  a  sealed  thing. 

What  is  the  explanation  of  this  ?  Of  course  there  is 
an  easy  explanation  in  this  chapter  if  you  take  the  words 
literally  in  the  chapter  ;  but  literal  explanations  of  Scrip- 
ture are  very  often  false.  It  forgets  to  ask  the  question — 
What  an  intelligent  man  in  the  time  of  the  revelation 
would  have  understood  by  it  ?  This  is  an  explanation, 
"  The  Lord  has  poured  out  upon  you  a  spirit  of  deep  sleep 
and  has  closed  your  eyes." 

Now  every  one  knows  that  the  working  out  of  natural 
laws  is  often  spoken  of  in  Scripture  as  the  action  of  God. 
For  instance,  to  take  a  familiar  instance,  God  is  said  to 
have  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart.  Now  we  know  that 
Pharaoh  hardened  his  own  heart.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  respect  and  worship  God  if  you  could  believe  it  was 
possible  for  God  to  harden  a  man's  heart  ;  but  let  any  one 
go  on  as  Pharaoh  did,  resisting  all  reasoning,  making 
promises,  and  when  the  danger  passed,  breaking  them  ;  fly 
into  a  panic  when  the  punishments  of  God  overtook  him, 
and  then  forget  God  when  the  punishments  were  with- 
drawn— let  any  one  do  this  and  his  heart  will  be  hardened. 
Let  a  man  deal  after  a  certain  fashion  with  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  let  him  form  certain  habits  and  persist  in 
them,  and  he  will  become  blind  and  deaf  to  this  matter. 
A  deep  sleep  will  fall  upon  him  and  you  cannot  wake  him 
out  of  his  sleep. 

But  there  is  no  mystery  in  it.  A  man's  nature,  life  and 
habits  are  the  simple  outcome  of  his  own  acts. 

Let  us  try  to  penetrate  a  very  little  into  this.     It  is  a 


OLD   TESTAMENT. 


vision  of  God  in  the  first  place.  In  brief  it  is  this  :  God  is 
love,  God  is  light,  God  is  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 
The  Bible  may  be  compressed  into  these  three  formulas. 
The  old  mythologists  are  full  of  stories  of  individuals  being 
suddenly  surprised  by  visions,  and  of  every  one  thus  sur- 
prised walking  ever  after  in  a  path  by  himself.  Sometimes 
the  vision  half  intoxicated  him  and  kept  him  prisoner  all 
his  life  long,  and  he  could  not  walk  in  the  paths  of  men 
any  more.     But  the  vision  never  came  again. 

On  the  contrary,  we  have  seen  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  and 
I  want  to  tell  you  Christian  people  what  it  is  you  believe 
about  God.  First,  "Our  Father" — in  the  vocabulary  of 
human  speech  that  is  the  only  word  which  speaks  of  the 
love  and  tenderness  of  the  union  between  us.  It  expresses 
the  divinity  of  God  and  the  humanity  of  man.  God  is  the 
light,  purity,  holiness,  the  enemy  of  evil,  which  kills  the 
unclean  thing  by  shining  upon  it  as  the  light  of  the  sun 
purifies  the  atmosphere.  God  is  love,  abundant  in  forgive- 
ness, bearing  with  our  waywardness,  unconquerable  in  His 
desire  to  give  us  His  best  gift.  That  is  the  Christian  God, 
and  the  thought  of  that  God  is  to  me  perfect  rapture.  But 
the  Gospel  with  all  its  wonder  and  splendour  is  a  closed 
book  to  many.  It  is  like  a  seal  placed  in  the  hands  of  a 
learned  man. 

Now  consider  this  for  a  moment  in  this  way.  First  of 
all  there  are  those  to  whom  the  whole  subject  is  strange. 
They  have  never  learned  the  alphabet  of  it.  These  people 
are  intelligent  in  every  other  respect.  But  you  cannot 
wedge  a  thought  of  this  into  them  ;  they  are  impervious, 
their  minds  present  to  you  the  face  of  a  rock.  There  is  a 
law  which  plays  a  very  important  part  in  natural  philo- 
sophy— it  is  called  the  "  inertia  of  matter,"  you  may  call  it 
the  stubbornness  of  matter.  The  law  is  quite  true  of  the 
mind  ;  there  is  a  mental  inertia,  and  there  is  nothing  more 
difficult  to  overcome.  It  defies  you  to  make  it  think  of 
that  which  it  is  not  in  the  habit  of  thinking.  If  you  doubt 
this,  take  the  subject  which  interests  you  most  in  the  world, 
the  subject  you  can  get  most  enthusiastic  about.  You  try 
to  interest  in  that  subject  a  person  who  is  entirely  ignorant 
of  this  particular  subject  of  yours.  You  begin.  What 
excuses  you  make  for  disturbing  him.  You  may  do 
your  best  to  show  him  that  it  is  an  important  subject.     It 

O 


194  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

requires  great  strategy  to  get  inside  a  man  who  has  never 
even  thought  of  the  subject  which  you  wish  to  introduce. 
Suppose  you  have  seen  some  fresh  disclosure  of  God's  love. 
God  has  repeated  to  you  the  words  which  once  conquered 
your  heart  and  which  conquers  your  heart  again — the  old 
covenant  with  God  is  renewed — you  go  and  speak  of  it. 
You  need  not  go  into  that  part  of  London  which  is  called 
"  Heathen  London."  I  will  take  you  five  minutes  from 
here  and  you  shall  talk  to  that  man  or  woman  about  this 
vision  of  God.  They  have  not  a  glimmering  notion  of 
what  you  mean  ;  you  are  talking  in  a  language  they  do 
not  understand.  I  have  been  again  and  again  called  to 
read  to  the  dying.  I  have  tried  to  do  it.  I  have  repeated 
the  words,  that  can  never  be  repeated  without  emotion, 
and  the  look  in  the  poor  face  out  of  which  life  is  ebbing, 
and  the  eyes  into  which  the  darkness  of  death  is  coining, 
says,  "What  is  he  talking  about?"  My  very  best  Gospel, 
the  veritable  Gospel  of  the  merciful  God,  is  dark  to  them 
and  has  never  touched  them.  It  was  giving  a  book  to  a 
man  who  could  not  read. 

Well,  this  one  other  thing.  There  are  those,  again,  who 
are  well  qualified,  whom  Ave  would  expect  to  understand 
much  above  others  ;  yet  the  Gospel  is  a  sealed  book  to 
them.  It  is  to-day  the  strangest  phenomena  in  the  world. 
You  will  find  this  everywhere.  Great  men  are  after  all 
only  the  crystallisation  of  great  thoughts  in  the  era— in- 
telligent and  earnest-minded  men,  and,  what  is  a  greater 
wonder,  women  who  study  the  highest  and  most  solemn 
subjects,  who  take  more  trouble  about  them  than  nine- 
tenths  do.  John  Stuart  Mill  wrote  down  calmly  and 
exactly  his  idea  about  religion  (I  wonder  how  many  of  you 
have  done  this?) — these  want  to  know  the  truth,  they  do 
not  want  to  deceive  themselves  or  others.  Now,  this  book, 
whatever  you  make  of  it,  is  the  most  remarkable  book  in 
the  world.  These  people  see  what  you  see — God  encom- 
passing every  life,  this  marvellous  providence  over  all  and 
training  every  one.  The  striving  to  get  at  us,  condescend- 
ing to  bear  our  nature  so  as  to  save  us.  They  see  this.  It 
is  only  a  strange  and  incredible  thing  to  them,  one  of  the 
grotesque  things  which  men  have  invented. 

The  glorious  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  makes  you 
strong  and  happy,  to  these  people  it  is  only  a  sealed  book. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  195 


How  comes  it  about  ?  Amongst  many  other  things  is  this. 
The  temporary  fascination— I  emphasize  the  word  "  tempo- 
rary " — of  one  or  two  great  ideas  which  belong  particularly 
to  this  generation.  This  generation  has  had  its  vision,  and 
this  is  it :  it  has  seen  the  universe  growing  out  of  a  germ- 
like  a  tree  from  a  seed.  This  is  called  evolution.  There 
has  never  been  any  diminution  of  this  energy.  There  is 
no  place  in  it  for  prayer  or  the  interference  of  personal 
wishes.  Our  prayers  can  change  nothing.  This  vision  has 
seen  a  universe  travelling  surely  towards  its  destination, 
which  our  joys  or  sorrows  can  neither  hasten  nor  arrest. 
Our  wars  or  tumults  or  convulsions  cannot  affect  this.  Our 
generation  cannot  take  its  eye  away  from  this  idea,  and 
our  God,  who  listened  to  the  prayer  of  your  little  child 
this  morning — that  God  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the 
grand  conception,  this  infinitely  complete  and  perfect  nature 
linked  together  by  links  which  are  never  broken.  There 
is  some  truth  in  the  heart  of  this  idea,  and  it  is  no  wonder 
that  it  hides  the  glories  of  the  Gospel.  You  have  stood  on 
a  bridge  and  looked  down  upon  the  river,  and  you  have 
felt  that  you  and  the  bridge  were  going  into  the  river. 
You  can  look  long  enough  into  the  stream  to  fall  into  the 
stream.  It  is  a  thing  which  the  best  intellects  in  England 
have  done.  They  have  repeated  and  repeated  their  talk 
about  "  evolution,"  and  "  the  conservation  of  energy  ''—they 
have  looked  into  the  stream  until  they  have  fallen  into  the 
stream,  and  they  have  been  carried  in  the  direction  of  the 
stream. 

Again,  the  Gospel  is  a  vision  of  God  and  a  vision  of  the 
life  possible  to  man  ;  and  surely  it  is  a  vision  of  immor- 
tality. This  is  the  crowning  vision,  and  perhaps  it  is  the 
more  misunderstood  of  anything  else.  I  do  not  mean  the 
difficulty  of  proving  to  a  man  the  existence  of  an  unseen 
world.  The  controversy  does  not  end  when  we  have 
finished  that  argument  for  the  existence  of  the  other  world. 
We  cannot  get  our  opponents  to  admit  the  possibility.  It 
is  a  sealed  book  to  them.  Mr.  Matthew  Arnold  writes  as 
if  most  people  had  got  their  hopes  fixed  upon  rewards 
yonder  and  says  that  this  idea  is  positive  selfishness  !  Is 
that  your  idea,  brethren?  Of  course,  these  men  are  in 
earnest,  and  I  think  it  must  arise  from  this,  that  they  can- 
not understand  that  our  hope  of  immortality  springs  from 


196  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

our  belief  in  Jesus  Christ  here.  I  zealously  guard  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ.  Paul  said  his  hope  of  im- 
mortal life  would  be  wrecked  if  he  did  not  believe  in  the 
Resurrection.  But  perhaps  he  rose  higher  when  he  said  : 
"  Christ  in  us  is  the  hope  of  glory."  Oh,  the  life  that  I  have 
known,  poor  and  miserable  and  imperfect  disciple  of  Jesus 
Christ  that  I  have  been  !  Oh,  the  joy  of  prayer.  Oh,  His 
love  has  taken  possession  of  my  soul,  and  it  is  thus  I  have 
tasted  of  Christ  here.  This  is  to  me  the  truth  of  im- 
mortality— what  I  have  tasted  and  known.  I  know  what 
heaven  is  because  I  have  been  there.  And  if  any  one  calls 
that  selfish  or  degrading  I  cannot  find  it  in  me  to  make  an 
apology  for  this.  Our  relations  with  Jesus  have  been  the 
putting  down  of  evil  and  the  striving  after  good.  The  best 
things  we  have  done  have  been  in  the  strength  of  Christ. 
Not  some  great  Valhallah,  not  an  eternal  lying  down  upon 
couches  and  singing  hymns  is  our  heaven,  but  eternal  striv- 
ing after  what  is  higher  and  higher  still.  This  is  our  im- 
mortality, and  this  is  the  vision  we  have  seen. 

There  are  other  things,  to  be  sure.  Don't  beg  anybody's 
pardon,  you  poor  mother,  because  your  heart  goes  continu- 
ally after  your  child  who  is  gone.  Your  life  has  become 
very  poor,  and  very  lonely,  and  there  is  not  the  same  zest. 
We  are  looking,  Oh  yes,  yes,  to  the  father,  mother,  child, 
brother,  sister,  we  shall  claim  yet  at  God's  hands. 

But  these  are  only  things  by  the  way.  The  hope,  the 
conviction,  the  proof,  is  the  life  that  we  now  live  in  Christ. 
Christ  in  us  is  the  hope  of  glory. 

W.  M.  J. 

XCIX.     Fears.     Isa.  xxxv.  4.     "Say  to  them  that  are  of  a 
fearful  heart,  Fear  not." 

These  words  occur  in  the  midst  of  a  prediction  which 
describes  in  the  sublimest  fashion,  the  nature  and  results 
of  the  Gospel  dispensation.  We  understand  them  as  set- 
ting before  us  the  fact,  the  Lord  has  a  consoling  u  fear  not " 
for  all  the  trepidations  of  the  fearful  heart. 

I.  There  are  fears  that  rise  in  the  heart  at  the  thought 
of  God.  An  horror  of  great  darkness  creeps  over  us  when 
first  the  truth  takes  possession  of  us,  that  we  shall  stand 
naked  and   open   before   the    eyes  of  Jehovah.     Now,  the 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  197 

root  of  this  fear  is  our  guilt.  In  all  the  cases  in  the  Bible  in 
which  God  is  represented  as  coming  to  talk  with  men,  He 
begins  with  the  words,  "  Fear  not."  He  therefore  says  that 
we  have  a  wrong  idea  concerning  Him.  We  regard  Him 
as  an  enemy,  whereas  He  is  our  best  friend.  The  cross 
was  God's  great  "  fear  not,"  spoken  to  the  trembling  heart 
of  humanity,  and  with  that  before  us,  we  say  to  every 
sinner  running  away  from  God,  you  are  mistaken. 

II.  There  are  fears  which  arise  in  the  heart  as  we  think 
of  our  fellow-men.  We  have  often  been  hampered  in  our 
discharge  of  duty  by  our  regard  to  those  around  us.  "  The 
fear  of  man  bringeth  a  snare."  We  are  afraid  of  the  oppo- 
sition of  our  fellows.  The  Gospel  come  to  us  with  its  "  fear 
not,"  for  this  ensnaring  trepidation.  It  does  not  guarantee 
immunity  from  trouble,  but  it  is  God's  word  of  re-assurance 
to  His  tempted,  tried  people,  and  when  it  is  heard  in  faith, 
the  timid  one  becomes  courageous,  and  takes  his  place 
among  the  heroes  of  humanity. 

III.  There  are  fears  about  the  future.  Whenever  we 
permit  ourselves  to  think  of  the  future  except  in  the  light 
of  the  Gospel,  we  become  despondent  and  sad.  Some  have 
fears  about  their  temporal  concerns,  others  about  their 
spiritual  safety,  then  again  about  their  loved  ones.  Each 
has  his  own  dread,  but  see  how  with  its  consoling  "  fear 
not,"  the  Gospel  hushes  the  heart  of  each  to  peace.  The 
root  of  fear  is  unbelief.  The  cure  of  fear  is  faith.  Trust 
in  Christ  is  peace,  and  peace  is  power. 

W.  M.  T. 


C.     A   Message   of    Comfort.    Isa.  xl.  i.    "  Co?nfort  ye, 
comfort  ye,  My  people,  saith  your  God." 

This  famous  chapter  marks  the  point  of  a  great  change 
in  the  strain  of  prediction.  The  great  river  of  prophetic 
narrative  here  takes  a  bend.  Before  this,  the  river,  wide 
sometimes  and  dark,  seems  to  work  its  way  between  steep 
rocks  and  difficulties  and  amid  shadows,  but  from  this  time 
it  becomes  clear  and  tranquil  and  sunlit — a  river  of  God 
full  of  refreshing  waters. 

Before  this  we  meet  with   messages  of  gloom   and   re- 
proof, but  from    this   time,   as  a   rule,  the  messages  are 


iq8  OUTLINES  ON  THE 


messages  of  hope  and  mercy  and  consolation,  in  which  we 
learn  much  about  Christ,  His  sufferings,  and  the  joys  of 
His  people  that  out  of  those  sufferings  spring. 

This  verse  strikes  the  keynote  of  the  chapter,  and  in  it 
God  summons  His  servants  to  convey  to  His  people  con- 
solation. We  must  see  this  chapter  in  a  Christian  light 
and  interpret  it  with  a  Christian  key.  It  all  leads  up  to 
the  consolation  of  Israel,  and  we  find  its  full  completion 
in  Jesus. 

I.  Let  us  identify  the  people  spoken  of:  "  Comfort  ye, 
my  people."  There  was  a  first  reference  to  the  people  of 
the  Jews,  who  all  through  were  the  people  that  shadowed 
forth  every  people.  So  the  people  who  are  to  be  comforted 
are  pre-eminently  the  people  of  God.  No  matter  in  what 
age  they  live,  they  are  those  who  are  identified  with  Christ, 
who  have  Christ  for  their  righteousness,  and  the  Spirit  for 
their  strength,  grace  for  their  life,  God  for  their  Father,  and 
heaven  for  their  home.  As  the  people  of  God  they  must 
pass  through  affliction  ;  they  must  have  the  trials  that 
make  life  sweet,  that  give  new  power  to  prayer.  Theirs 
must  be  the  sorrow  that  comes  of  ungenial  occupations, 
from  fear  of  the  future,  and  from  the  discordance  that 
exists  in  this  imperfectly  sanctified  nature. 

II.  Notice  the  messengers  through  whom  the  comfort  is 
to  be  given.  God  says  to  each  present  now,  God  is  asking 
you,  my  brother,  to  comfort  some  sorrowful  child  of  God. 
Look  out  for  some  one  who  is  suffering  from  some 
stroke,  and  carry  to  such  the  celestial  message  of  consola- 
tion from  God.  He  is  our  Comforter.  All  our  music 
begins  in  Him,  all  our  joy  begins  in  Him.  He  is  ready 
to  comfort  you  through  your  life,  not  only  in  speech  but 
in  deed.  God  is  going  to  carry  through  you  messages  of 
consolation  to  those  who  are  dying  for  it.  You  say,  "  How 
can  I  comfort  God's  people  ?  "  God  says,  "  Through  Christ. 
Love  Me  and  My  people,  and  you  will  comfort  them.  I 
call  on  you  to  love  them." 

III.  I  would  seek  to  make  some  remarks  on  the  comfort 
you  are  to  convey.  You  find,  if  you  look  through  the 
chapter,  that  my  heads  of  remark  are  supplied  by  the 
chapter  itself,  but  I  wish  to  convey  the  original  meaning  in 
an  evangelical  sense. 

(i)  "  Comfort  by  reminding  them  that  I  am  their  God." 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  199 


All  this  chapter  is  a  remembrance  that  God  is  the  Father 
of  His  people.  God,  who  knows  your  frame,  seems  to  be 
saying  to  me,  "  Go  to  that  child  of  Mine  ;  he  has  forgotten 
Me.  Remind  him  of  what  he  has  forgotten.  Tell  him  I 
am  his  resting-place,  and  so  give  him  comfort." 

(2)  We  are  to  remind  the  people  of  God  that  the  time 
of  their  captivity  in  this  world  is  nearly  over,  and  that  they 
will  soon  be  home.  Some  Jews  loved  Babylon,  but  the 
spiritual  people  longed  to  get  back  to  their  temple  ;  and  so 
they  fretted  and  chafed.  And  now  came  the  message  that 
the  day  of  restoration  was  at  hand  ;  but  it  was  a  poor 
return  theirs,  and  for  a  short  time.  Ours  is  not  going  back 
to  a  temple  in  ruins  ;  ours  is  going  to  that  place  which 
Christ  has  prepared  for  us.  Do  not  forget  that  this  is  not 
your  rest,  and  that  the  rest  upon  the  way  is  only  the  rest 
travellers  have  upon  the  oasis.  There  is  a  better  home 
beyond  the  haunts  of  the  robber — a  glorious  world  where 
Ave  shall  see  God  as  He  is. 

(3)  The  Saviour  is  coming  to  this  world,  and  is  on  His 
way  to  show  His  glory  here.  Comfort  the  people  who  are 
disquieted  by  the  sight  of  the  strength  arrayed  against 
Christ.  Tell  them  that  Christ  will  overcome  these  things. 
Babylon  looked  as  if  it  could  never  be  overthrown  ;  but 
the  prophet  told  them  that  it  would  fall.  The  forces  of 
evil  seem  now  to  be  organising  themselves  for  a  fight 
with  God.  They  speak  about  overturning  Christ,  who  said, 
"  I  will  overturn,  overturn,  overturn."  Our  Lord  is  an 
overturner,  and  we  are  not  afraid  as  to  the  issue  of  the 
battle.  At  the  same  time,  there  is  war  in  the  air,  and  we 
must  take  some  part  in  it.  We  live  in  the  midst  of  dis- 
turbance. But  there  is  One  who  makes  those  very  move- 
ments of  disturbance  contribute  to  His  own  grand  march. 
God  in  Christ  would  comfort  us  by  cheering  us  up  from 
these  fears  that  come  from  our  misgivings  about  our 
weakness  and  feebleness. 

(4)  We  sometimes  think  that  we  are  so  little  that  our 
way  is  hid  from  God  ;  but  the  prophet  reminds  us  that  His 
very  greatness  shows  itself  in  noticing  littleness  ;  and  he 
gives  us  comfort  in  the  words,  "  He  calleth  them  all  by 
names  by  the  greatness  of  His  might."  Our  God,  then,  is 
not  a  being  to  be  distracted.  He  is  Ruler  of  everything, 
little  and   great.     The   grandeur  of  His  nature   interferes 


OUTLINES   ON   THE 


not  with  the  care  of  His  creatures.     He  knows  every  little 
fear  and  little  thought  that  make  the  sum  of  my  life. 

But  all  this  comfort  is  not  comfort  for  you  unless  you  be 
God's  people.  God  does  not  say,  "  Comfort  ye  that  rebel, 
who  will  not  be  one  of  My  people."  You  must  first  give 
yourself  up  to  Christ ;  and  then  God  says  to  me,  in  refer- 
ence to  you,  "  Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye,  my  people." 

C.S. 


CI.  Preparing  the  Way  of  the  Lord.  Isa.  xl.  3-5. 
"  The  voice  of  him  that  crieth  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare 
ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  straight  in  the  desert  a  highway 
for  onr  God." 

God  has  many  messengers,  and  they  have  often  lifted  up 
their  voice  in  the  wilderness.  Some  speak  with  a  voice  of 
thunder  to  arouse  a  sleeping  world.  The  doctrine  of  others 
distils  as  the  dew.  Ever  since  man  was  driven  from  the 
beauty  of  Eden  he  has  been  a  wanderer  in  the  desert. 
The  imagery  of  the  text  appears  to  be  drawn  from  the 
journeying  of  Israel  to  Canaan. 

I.  Compare  this  prophecy  with  the  history  of  the  Exodus. 
The  prophecies  of  God's  word  shine  both  before  and 
behind.  They  illumine  the  future  and  reflect  a  radiance 
back  on  the  page  of  history.  In  the  desert  the  Gospel  was 
preached  to  Israel  in  types  and  ordinances,  and  especially 
by  the  great  act  of  their  redemption  out  of  Egypt  ;  for 
this  was  a  foreshadowing  of  the  inspired  song,  "  Comfort 
ye,  comfort  ye,  My  people,  saith  your  God."  The  law  was 
a  schoolmaster  to  bring  Israel  to  Christ.  It  humbled  pride, 
and  so  mountains  and  valleys  were  levelled,  the  crooked 
made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain.  So  in  the 
ordinances  given  by  the  dispensation  of  angels  might  be 
heard  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  "  Prepare 
ye  the  way  for  our  God." 

II.  Isaiah  uses  it  as  an  illustration  of  his  own  ministry. 
He  too  felt  himself  in  a  spiritual  desert,  yet  by  faith  he 
sees  afar  off,  and  the  seer  is  himself  transported  into  that 
bright  future. 

III.  These  words  as  pointing  onwards  to  Gospel  times. 
John   the  Baptist   distinctly  announced  himself  as   "  The 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  201 

voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  Prepare  ye  the  way 
of  the  Lord/'  Before  this  wilderness  preacher  the  moun- 
tains of  Pharisaic  pride  were  levelled,  the  valleys  of  Sad- 
ducean  unbelief  were  filled  up,  the  tortuous  vices  of  the 
courtly  Judaean  were  corrected,  and  the  rude  ignorance  of 
the  Galilean  smoothed  and  reformed. 

IV.  The  words  had  the  wider  signification  also  of  the 
Gentile  world  being  prepared  to  see  the  salvation  of  God. 
Providential  agencies  were  then  at  work  preparing  Christ's 
way  among  the  Gentiles.  The  two  most  powerful  agencies 
were  Greek  literature  and  Roman  dominion. 

V.  Every  Christian  should  be  as  the  voice  crying  "  Pre- 
pare ye  the  way  of  the  Lord."  Each  true  servant  of  Christ 
is  a  successor  of  prophets  and  apostles  in  the  highest  sense. 
He  is,  by  word  and  life,  to  witness  for  His  Saviour  and 
King. 

H.  P.  L. 


CII.     Precious   Promises.      Isa.  xli.  10.      "Fear  thou 

not,  for  I  am  with  thee.  Be  not  dismayed,  for  I  am  thy 
God ;  I  will  strengthen  thee,  I  will  help  thee;  yea,  I  will 
uphold  thee  7vith  the  right  hand  of  My  righteousness^ 

THE  exuberant  repetition  of  these  words  strike  one. 
Everything  said  over  twice,  and  some  of  them  three  times. 
And  that  is  not  merely  Hebrew  poetry  ;  nor  is  it  merely 
rhetorical  amplification  ;  but  it  suggests  two  or  three  very 
striking  considerations.  One  is,  how  very  hard  it  is  to  get 
people  to  lay  hold  of  the  rest  and  the  strength  that  there 
is  in  confidence  in  God.  How  you  need  to  keep  hammer- 
ing in  the  same  thing  into  people's  minds,  and  repeating 
it  over  and  over  again  in  all  sorts  and  shapes,  before  the 
sluggish  heart  hears.  Line  upon  line,  precept  upon  pre- 
cept— one  exhortation  is  not  sufficient,  two  even  are  not 
enough,  and  three  are  requisite,  and  they  open  out  into  all 
the  rest  of  the  word — "  I  am  thy  God,"  "  I  will  strengthen 
thee  ; "  and  that  is  not  all,  something  more  may  be  said  yet 
— "Yea,  I  will  uphold  thee  with  the  right  hand  of  My 
righteousness."  And  then  there  is  a  lovely  and  most  im- 
pressive climax  in  these  three  words  which  at  first  sight 
seem  only  synonymous,  and  I  take  it  in  all  the  expanding 


202  OUTLINES   ON    THE 

of  the  promises  that  are  wrapped  up  in  the  one  thought, 
"  I  am  with  thee." 

And  so,  here  are  three  things — a  twofold  exhortation, 
resting  upon  a  twofold  encouragement  which  breaks  out 
into  a  dual  repetition,  "  Fear  not,  be  not  dismayed." 

Scholars  tell  us  that  the  meaning  of  the  last  two  words 
is  a  very  beautiful  one — the  first  I  need  not  dwell  upon — 
the  second  of  them  is  very  picturesque.  The  literal  ren- 
dering of  it  is,  "  Don't  look  " — the  paraphrase  I  mean — 
"  don't  look  all  round  about  you  to  see  where  the  thunder- 
clouds are."  Be  not  afraid,  is  the  one  thought,  and  the 
other  is  really,  don't  be  like  the  hunted  creature,  or  the 
savage  that  carries  his  life  in  his  hand,  and  is  ever  keeping 
his  eyes  upon  the  thickets.  Don't  go  through  life  looking 
at  the  places  where  danger  may  come ;  lift  your  eyes  up 
to  something  higher.  Don't  train  your  eyes  to  look  along 
the  low  level  of  earth,  but  train  your  eyes  upwards.  It 
would  be  a  very  poor  affair  if  all  the  exhortation  that  was 
given  us  were  only  the  empty  one,  "  Be  not  afraid."  The 
answer  might  be  Jonah's  answer,  "  Ah,  but  I  do  well,  being 
afraid,  and  it  is  no  use  telling  me  not  to  be  afraid  unless 
you  can  deal  with  the  facts ;  you  cannot  get  rid  of  the 
fact  that  there  is  a  large  sting  in  every  man's  life  to  make 
him  not  only  very  sad,  but  very  timid."  The  things  that 
may  come — and  it  is  the  may  that  gives  the  thing  its  sting, 
the  musts  we  can  stand — it  is  the  mays  that  give  us  fear. 
We  think  of  defeat,  and  if  we  have  got  over  the  fear  of 
that,  we  think  of  possible  dangers  that  may  come  instead. 
We  think  of  something  in  our  lives  that  we  only  know, — 
some  hidden  sorrow,  some  hidden  disease,  some  rottenness 
that  is  sure  to  break  out  sooner  or  later — and  unless  a  man 
can  say,  "  Thou  art  with  me,"  and  "  Thou  art  my  help," 
I  think  the  wisest  man  is  the  man  that  is  afraid,  and  it  is 
only  fools  that  do  not  know  what  fear  is.  So  I  think  there 
is  a  very  large  waste  of  breath  in  the  well-meaning  advice 
that  is  sometimes  given  to  people.  Yes,  but  to  arrive  at 
this  superiority  over  fear,  a  man  needs  something  more 
than  fancies  to  take  hold  of.  I  don't  think  there  is  any- 
thing strong  enough  to  draw  away  a  man's  eye  from  that 
dark  corner  yonder  where  the  enemy  is,  where  sits  the 
shadow  feared  of  man,  except  only  the  encouragement 
that  is  here,  "  Fear  thou  not."     Yes,  but  I  must.     "  For  I 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  203 

am  with  thee :  don't  be  gazing  into  the  eyes  of  thy 
enemies."  Ah,  but  I  can't  help  it.  There  is  a  fascination 
like  the  rattlesnake,  and  I  cannot  withdraw  my  eyes  from 
it.  "  I  am  thy  God  :  come,  child,  look  up  at  Me,  and  that 
is  a  better  thing  than  looking  at  the  foes  that  are  round 
about  you." 

So  look  at  this  twofold  encouragement,  "  I  am  with 
thee,  and  I  am  thy  God,"  and  "  I  will  strengthen  thee,  and 
help  thee,  and  uphold  thee."  Look  at  the  majesty  with 
which  the  sovereign  autocratic  /,  /,  /,  keeps  rolling  forth. 
God  puts,  as  it  were,  His  own  great  being  as  a  shelter 
and  a  breakwater  between  us  and  that  great  sea  of  dan- 
ger without  there,  its  billows  round  in  front  there.  Get 
behind  that  great  Breakwater — it  is  quiet  riding  on  the 
other  side  of  it.  /.  /,  My  own  magnificent  personality, 
that  is  the  only  thing  that  can  make  you  strong.  There 
is  only  one  great  antagonist  that  can  master  fear,  and 
that  is  faith.  And  there  is  only  one  Being  that  can  evoke 
faith,  and  the  old  word  has  it  in  all  its  beauty,  and 
in  all  its  simplicity,  "  I  will  trust,"  and  so  I  will  not  be 
afraid.  If  you  do  not  begin  with  the  trust,  you  will  never 
have  come  to  the  not  being  afraid.  It  is  no  use  trying  to 
expel  the  fear  with  a  fork,  it  will  come  back  again.  Only 
you  fill  the  heart  with  the  other  thing,  "  I  will  trust."  And 
all  we  have  got  to  say  is,  "  Stand  Thou  above,  and  let  me 
see  that  it  flows  out  from  Thy  hand  ; "  all  this  thing  I 
am  afraid  of  comes  out  of  His  hand.  And  so  if  I  trust  I 
find  out  the  soul  of  goodness  in  the  thing  that  is  evil,  and 
I  cannot  be  afraid  of  what  He  sends  me.  "  I  will  be  with 
thee,  be  not  dismayed,,  for  I  am  thy  God."  And  that  is 
beautiful !  A  single  man  can  lay  hold  of  God,  and  put 
out  an  unpresumptuous  hand,  and  say,  "  I  claim  Thee  for 
mine  !  "  That  mystery  of  my  possession  of  God,  and  God 
belonging  to  me  !  as  well  as  of  God  owning  it !  We  can- 
not get  to  the  bottom  of  it.  "  He  that  dwelleth  in  love 
dwelleth  in  God,  and  God  in  him." 

But  the  principal  use  of  the  thought  is,  if  a  man  feels 
that  God  belongs  to  him,  he  need  not  be  afraid  of  any- 
thing that  comes  to  him.  That  one  thought  about  God 
will  open  itself  out  into  the  threefold  meaning  of  this  great 
text,  which  with  such  tender  reiteration  and  repetition  sets 
this  thought  before  us.     "  1  will  strengthen  thee."     Is  that 


204  OUTLINES  ON   THE 

all  ?  No.  "  Yea,  I  will  help  thee."  Anything  more  ? 
Yes.  "  Yea,  I  will  uphold  thee  with  the  right  hand  of 
My  righteousness."  "  I  will  strengthen  thee  " — that  is 
something  done  upon  me.  "  I  will  help  thee  " — that  is 
something  done  beside  me.  In  the  one  case  God  comes 
to  me  and  breathes  into  me  courage  and  power  ;  and  in 
the  other  case  He  comes  and  sits  down  beside  me,  and 
thinks  for  me.  The  meaning  and  the  climax  between 
these  two  things  is  this,  "  Strengthened  by  His  Spirit  in 
the  inner  man  ;  "  as  Paul  says,  "  I  can  do  all  things  through 
Christ  who  strengthens  me."  Within,  it  is  something  in 
my  heart ;  but  then  that  is  not  the  whole  battle,  there  must 
be  something  else.  And  God  says,  "  I  will  be — / — at  thy 
side,  an  inspiration  within  thee,  I  will  give  thee  power 
within  thy  hand,  I  will  put  My  hand  round  about  thee  ;  I 
will  strengthen  thee  within,  and  working  all  about  thee,  in 
the  faith  of  Providence,  and  in  regard  to  thine  own  inmost 
being,  and  in  regard  to  external  things  I  will  give  thee  what 
thou  dost  need.  Don't  be  afraid  of  the  world  in  any  of 
its  shapes,  I  will  help  thee,  the  Inspirer  within,  and  walk  by 
thy  side."  "  He  will  cover  my  head  in  the  day  of  battle," 
and  also  He  will  teach  me  to  walk. 

And  so  the  climax  to  the  last  words  of  this  text  seem 
to  be  plain.  It  climbs  up  to  be  the  crown  of  promise 
in  two  ways.  First,  because  it  specifies  the  great  means 
by  which  man  will  be  upheld — "  the  right  hand  of  His 
righteousness,"  which  is  the  symbol  for  the  power  whereby 
His  righteousness  works  for  His  children.  It  is  no  arbi- 
trary  kindness,  no  whim  of  a  capricious  tyrant ;  it  is  the 
love  and  the  power,  and  the  upholding  of  that  great  Sove- 
reign righteousness  which  is  full  of  tenderness  to  them 
that  trust  it,  and  only  shows  the  side  of  wrath  to  them  that 
reject  it.  Just  as  the  eagle's  eye  is  full  of  tenderness  for 
the  eaglets,  so  the  right  hand,  the  mighty  power  that  is 
guided  by  the  Divine  righteousness,  that,  and  nothing 
less,  is  what  you  and  I  have  to  rest  upon.  So  there  will 
be  no  blunder  in  our  trust. 

And  then  besides  that,  the  climax  that  comes  is  not 
only  this  distinct  statement  of  the  strong  foundation  on 
which  our  hope  rests,  but  it  is  the  picture  of  the  con- 
sequence of  all  this  mighty  energy  of  an  inspiring  Ally. 
"  I  will  strengthen  thee."     Yes.     "  I  will  'help  thee."     Yes. 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  205 

And  shall  I  stand,  or  fall?  Thou  shalt  stand,  "/will 
help  thee,  thou  shalt  not  fail."  The  Lord  is  able  to  make 
me  stand.  It  shall  be  no  vain  help,  no  inadequate  help, 
no  partial,  no  transitory  help.  Unlike  the  vain  relieving 
armies  that  sometimes  go  to  assist  people  in  extremity, 
who  themselves  fall  into  an  ambush,  but  fail  to  help  their 
brethren, — where  God  strengthens  there  is  no  failure,  and 
they  whom  He  upholds  shall  not  fall.  That  we  may  be 
able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  and  having  done  all,  to 
stand,  "  I  will  strengthen  thee,  I  will  help  thee,  I  will  up- 
hold thee  with  the  right  hand  of  My  righteousness." 

A.  M. 


CIII.     Sin  and   Mercy.     Isa.  xli.  22.     "  I  have  blotted  out 
as  a  thick  cloud  thy  transgressions,  and  as  a  cloud  thy  sins.,} 

There  are  two  thoughts  in  the  text. 

I.  There  is  the  thought  of  sin.  Sin  is  everywhere  broad 
and  deep,  the  wide  world  over,  for  you  may  trace  the  fire- 
written  syllables — "As  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  death  by  sin,  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  in 
that  all  have  sinned."  The  Gospel  proceeds  upon  the  basis 
of  universal  depravity ;  the  Gospel  assimilates  all  varieties 
of  human  nature  into  one  common  experience  of  guilt  and 
need  and  helplessness,  and  this  is  just  what  men  do  not 
like  about  it.  The  man  of  honest  worldliness,  the  man  of 
graceful  generosity,  cannot  brook  that  he  should  be  put 
with  publicans  and  harlots  upon  one  platform.  But  the 
Scriptures  recognise  only  two  varieties  of  condition  here, 
they  predict  only  two  varieties  of  condition  yonder,  and 
it  is  easy  to  trace,  if  you  only  set  about  it  aright,  in  all 
characters,  from  the  extreme  of  murderous  atrocity  to  the 
extreme  of  moral  blamelessness,  the  same  feature  of  ungodli- 
ness. The  ungodly  shall  not  stand  in  the  judgment  any 
more  than  the  sinners  in  the  congregation  of  the  righteous. 
There  is  sin — sin  as  a  thick  cloud  and  as  a  cloud. 

II.  The  thought  of  mercy  :  "  I  have  blotted  out." 

It  seems  strange,  that  after  the  awful  declaration  of 
apostasy  and  impenitence  in  the  beginning  of  the  chapter, 
the  prophet  should  not  have  gone  away  after  pronouncing 
sentence  of  doom.     And  yet,  when  the  voice  speaks,  it   is 


206  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

the  voice  not  of  vengeance  but  of  mercy.  This  is  the 
great  Bible  theme,  the  mercy  of  God.  Every  promise 
distils  it,  it  is  the  burden  of  every  prophet's  message.  Sin 
is  everywhere,  but  so  is  grace.  As  God  always  put  the 
poison  and  the  antidote  together,  so  when  sin  came  into 
the  world,  grace  came  into  the  world.  Where  sin  hath 
abounded,  there  grace  doth  much  more  abound,  and  like 
the  rich  music  of  some  ever  present  and  majestic  river, 
grace  goes  flowing  on  past  the  habitations  of  every  man, 
never  ceasing,  never  drying  up,  bearing  continually  its 
musical  message  to  the  ear  of  the  world.  There  is  pardon 
and  rest  for  you  in  Jesus.  There,  in  Jesus,  is  mercy, 
mercy  for  the  vilest,  and  God  is  waiting  that  He  may  say 
to  your  consciences,  "  I  have  blotted  out  as  a  thick  cloud 
thy  transgressions,  and  as  a  cloud  thy  sins." 

W.  M.  P. 


CIV.  God's  Servant.  Tsa.  xlii.  1-4.  lt  Behold  My  servant, 
whom  I  uphold ;  Mine  elect,  in  whom  My  soul  delighteth  ;  I 
have  put  My  spirit  upon  him  :  he  shall  bring  forth  judgment  to 
the  Gentiles.'" 

There  is  no  need  to  enter  into  argument  as  to  the  re- 
ference of  this  passage  to  Christ  and  His  great  work  in 
the  world.  We  feel  instinctively  that  the  words  could 
refer  to  no  other  ;  and  it  strikes  us  as  a  matter  of  course 
that  they  should  be  quoted  by  St.  Matthew  and  expressly 
applied  to  Jesus.  So  we  may  regard  the  passage  as  re- 
ferring to  the  whole  work  and  government  of  the  Messiah, 
alike  in  the  humiliation  of  His  incarnate  life,  in  the  pro- 
gress of  His  gospel  through  the  ages,  and  in  His  future 
enthronement  in  the  universality  of  His  mediatorial 
kingdom. 

I.  Consider  the  need  of  the  world.  The  need  of  the 
world  is  affirmed  in  this  passage  to  be  the  bringing  forth 
or  establishment  of  God's  judgment.  The  word  has  many 
senses  in  the  Scripture,  but  there  are  three  to  which  we 
shall  refer. 

(1)  In  Psalm  cxlvii.  and  19th  verse,  the  term  "judg- 
ments "  is  used  of  the  precepts  of  God's  law.  It  is  needful, 
surely,    that  there  should  be  a   bringing  in  of  judgment 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  207 


as  a  revelation  of  God's  word  and  will.  "  Where  there  is  no 
revelation,  there  is  obscured  or  distorted  vision,  and  the 
people  perish.  If  it  were  possible  to  conceive  of  a  world 
without  a  Bible,  and  consequently  without  a  standard  of 
authority,  in  the  spectacle  which  would  be  presented  of 
wayward  and  active  mind,  with  no  restraint  upon  its  folly 
or  frenzy,  there  would  need  no  darker  conception  of  hell. 
But  the  judgment  of  the  Lord,  true  and  righteous  alto- 
gether, is  revealed  unto  men.  God  has  spoken,  and  every 
cavil  may  be  silenced  at  His  presence. 

(2)  In  Luke  xi.  and  42nd  verse,  the  term  "judgment" 
evidently  stands  for  righteousness,  that  which  is  just 
and  true  alike  toward  man  and  God,  the  high  moral 
excellence  which  is  the  ideal  of  character  and  which  a 
weary  world  has  almost  broken  its  heart  in  fruitless  en- 
deavours to  attain.  Surely  it  is  needful  that  there  should 
be  a  bringing  in  of  judgment  as  a  habit  of  righteousness. 
It  has  been  well  said  that  man  can  neither  renounce  his 
sins  nor  his  God.  He  flees  from  the  deity  he  worships  ; 
he  is  a  slave  to  the  sins  which  he  condemns. 

The  master  want  of  the  world  is  holiness. 

(3)  In  Psalm  cxix.  and  20th  verse,  and  in  the  quotation 
of  the  text  in  Matthew,  the  term  would  seem  to  have 
reference  to  the  dispensation  of  grace,  the  provision  of 
might  and  mastery  for  human  feebleness  and  struggle. 
By  unaided  effort  ignorance  cannot  acquire  saving  know- 
ledge nor  pollution  be  cleansed  from  its  stain.  There 
must  be  a  power  by  which  the  scales  can  be  taken  from 
the  eyes  and  the  warp  from  the  mind  and  the  enfeebled 
nature  become  valiant  for  the  truth.  Without  the  revela- 
tion of  this  power  all  other  revelation  would  be  an  aggrava- 
tion of  the  torture,  as  the  sunlight  on  the  shroud  is  only 
a  gay  mockery  of  the  death  it  robes.  The  bringing  forth 
of  judgment,  which  is  declared  to  be  to  open  the  blind 
eyes,  is  declared  also  to  be  to  bring  out  the  prisoners  from 
the  prison  ;  and  the  effect  of  the  Saviour's  mediatorial 
work  is  described  as  the  judgment  of  this  world  and  the 
casting  out  of  its  prince. 

II.  The  designation  of  its  deliverer. 

(1)  Christ  is  called  here  the  servant  of  the  Father.  This 
is  only  an  official  servitude  in  reference  to  His  mediatorial 
work.     He  took  upon  Him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  with 


2o8  OUTLINES  ON   THE 

glad  heart  and  willing  feet  went   forth  to  do  a  servant's 
work. 

(2)  Christ  is  called  the  elect  or  chosen  of  God  in  whom 
His  soul  delighteth.  He  was  chosen  to  this  work  and 
beloved  on  account  of  this  work.  The  Father's  love  was 
intensified  on  account  of  this,  "  Therefore  doth  My  Father 
love  Me." 

(3)  He  was  the  anointed  of  the  Spirit.  Although  He 
knew  no  sin,  and  therefore  needed  no  renewal,  yet  even 
His  sinless  human  nature  must  have  this  anointing  to 
enrich  it  with  all  suitable  qualifications  and  to  make  it 
strong  for  service  or  for  suffering,  as  if  to  show  that  even 
in  its  highest  embodiment  human  nature  cannot  do  with- 
out God. 

III.     The  manner  and  issue  of  His  work. 

(1)  He  works  unostentatiously.  "  He  shall  not  cry,  nor 
lift  up,  nor  cause  His  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street." 

(2)  He  works  tenderly.  "  A  bruised  reed  shall  He  not 
break." 

(3)  He  works  perseveringly  and  successfully.  "  He  shall 
not  fail  nor  be  discouraged."  Against  embattled  earth, 
against  the  gathered  forces  of  the  pit,  He  shall  bring  forth 
judgment  unto  victory,  until  He  rests  from  His  labours, 
until  He  gathers  His  children,  until  He  makes  up  His 
jewels,  until  He  wears  His  crown. 

W.  M.  P. 


CV.  The  Lost  Ideal.  Isa.  xlviii.  18.  "  Oh,  that  thou 
hadst  hearkened  to  My  commandments!  then  had  thy  peace  been 
as  a  river,  and  thy  righteousness  as  the  waves  of  the  sea" 

Exile  and  home-coming,  captivity  and  deliverance,  judg- 
ment and  mercy,  these  are  the  things  of  this  chapter.  There 
is  in  the  immediate  context  an  expression  of  the  deepest 
regret  on  God's  part,  that  the  spirit  and  behaviour  of  His 
own  people  had  been  such  as  to  make  it  necessary  to  bring 
on  them  these  heavy  judgments,  while  this  text  is  a 
tender  wish  and  longing  that  they  had  from  the  first 
chosen  the  better  way. 

I.  The  first  thought  implied  here  is  the  lost  ideal,  what 
might  have  been  ;  something  that  in  the  high  and  true  sense 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  209 

not  only  might  have  been,  but  ought  to  have  been,  which 
God  cannot  even  yet  cease  to  think  about  and  lament  over 
as  a  thing  as  yet  unrealized.  He  saw,  He  who  sees  all 
things,  who  has  no  illusion,  who  makes.no  mistake  in  His 
estimate  of  men  or  things,  saw  clearly  that  there  had  been 
a  bright  and  beautiful  pos'sibility  for  them  as  a  nation. 
He  saw  that  there  had  been  a  possibility  to  individuals  as 
well  as  to  the  nation,  which  they  had  not  attained  and 
which  now  was  unattainable,  at  least  to  this  extent,  that 
things  with  them  could  never  be  exactly  the  same  as  if 
they  had  attained  it  from  the  first. 

So,  too,  there  is  to  each  of  us  an  ideal  life  that  is  a  bright, 
pure,  perfect  course  along  which  we  might  go  from  earth 
into  heaven.  This  is  something  not  barely  possible,  not 
abstractly  imaginable.  The  ideal  life  is  the  life,  the  others 
that  come  in  the  place  of  it  are  usurpers  and  pretenders. 
But  it  is  strange,  and  to  some  it  may  very  well  be 
alarming,  to  think  of  the  difference  between  what  might 
have  been  and  what  has  been  between  themselves,  and  as 
they  have  made  themselves,  and  themselves  as  God  would 
have  made  them. 

It  might  not  be  an  unprofitable  exercise  for  any  one  to 
try  to  discover  his  own  ideal  and  proper  life.  We  are  not 
left  altogether  without  guidance  for  any  inquiry  of  this 
kind,  because  there  is  a  natural  outline  in  every  man's  life. 
Sin  depraves,  but  it  does  not  obliterate  the  organic  powers 
and  the  natural  peculiarities  and  tendencies  of  the  indi- 
vidual. There  is  some  outline  left  in  each  individual  of 
what  might  have  been.  The  ideal  of  another  person  would 
not  be  mine  nor  mine  his.  There  are  diversities.  Just  as 
we  get  a  glimpse  of  the  sun  on  a  wintry  morning,  so  I 
have  had  now  and  then,  in  a  supreme  moment,  a  glimpse 
of  what  I  might  have  been.  This  lost  self  is  the  self  that 
must  be  found,  else  happiness  cannot  be  found. 

II.  The  Divine  lamentation  over  this  lost  ideal.  This 
passage  shows  that  it  is  no  matter  of  indifference  with 
God  how  men  live.  God  feels  this  matter  to  pain  and 
intensity,  to  sorrow  and  regret,  to  yearning  love  and  great 
longing.  "  Oh,  that  thou  hadst  hearkened  to  My  com- 
mandments!  then  had  thy  peace  been  like  a  river,  and  thy 
righteousness  like  the  waves  of  the  sea." 

"  Thy  peace  "  means  the  prosperity,  thy  welfare  "  had 

P 


210  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

been  like  a  river"  which  fills  its  banks,  spreading  fertility 
in  its  course.  "  And  thy  righteousness,"  a  term  here  used 
in  its  large  sense  for  universal  goodness,  truth,  honour, 
every  virtue,  "  like  the  waves  of  the  sea  " — a  still  grander 
image  than  that  of  the  river.  We  see  how  great  and 
beneficent  God  would  have  man's  life  to  be,  and  how 
beautiful.  Could  any  one  say,  that  if  they  had  never 
received  God's  special  gracious  help  by  the  Gospel  that 
their  life  would  be  anything  like  God's  ideal  ? 

III.  The  Divine  proposal  for  restoration. 

In  our  text  God  stands  in  the  first  instance  as  with 
uplifted  hands  pathetically  lamenting  over  a  great  loss  and 
ruin.  What  means  the  next  verse  ?  If  things  were  all  so 
hopeless  would  God  exhort  them  to  do  anything  at  all  ? 
He  means  evidently  by  that  to  declare  that  He  will 
continue  His  work  and  carry  it  on  to  ultimate  success. 
It  is  exactly  what  God  is  doing  to  all  discouraged  ones, 
to  all  hopeless  hearts  to-day.  He  is  putting  before  them 
the  great  Gospel  of  good  news  with  Divine  strength  in  it. 
Begin  where  you  are,  do  the  nearest  thing,  forsake  the 
sin  that  is  strongest,  take  the  path  that  is  open,  make 
room  in  your  heart  for  all  that  God  will  give  you,  and 
especially  for  the  renewing  spirit,  and  in  all  this  look  unto 
Jesus  and  press  towards  Him  as  you  look,  and  you  are  now 
a  new  creature  in  Him,  Eden  blooms  once  more,  the  dead 
is  alive  again,  the  long- lost  self  is  found. 

A.  R. 


CVI.     Spiritual   Despondency.     Isa.  1.  10.     "  Who  is 

among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the  voice  of  His 
servant,  that  walketh  in  darkness,  and  hath  ?w  light  ?  let  him 
trust  in  the  na?ne  of  the  Lord,  and  stay  upon  his  God." 

It  is  not,  as  you  see  from  these  words,  a  thing  unheard  of 
or  impossible,  that  a  child  of  God  should  "  walk  in  dark- 
ness and  have  no  light."  And  when  the  sadness  of  such 
an  experience  comes  upon  the  saint  it  will  not  be  always 
safe  to  say  that  it  is  the  shadow  of  some  special  sin. 

The  case  described  in  the  text  is  that  of  one  who  even 
at  the  moment  "  feareth  the  Lord  and  obeyeth  the  voice  of 
His  servant,"  while  yet  he  has  lost  the  radiant  happiness 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  211 

of  the  new  life  and  is  bending  under  the  weight  of  spiritual 
despondency.  The  first  reference  to  be  drawn  from  the 
text  is,  that  a  man  may  be  a  sincere,  devout  follower  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  yet  be  "walking  in  darkness." 

I.  Look  at  some  of  the  causes  out  of  which  despondency 
may  spring. 

(1)  It  may  spring  from  natural  temperament.  It  is  a 
fact  that  each  of  us  is  born  with  a  certain  predisposition 
to  joy  or  sadness,  to  irascibility  or  patience,  to  quickness 
of  action  or  deliberateness  of  conduct,  which  we  call  tem- 
perament. And  it  is  also  true  that  while  conversion  may 
Christianize  that  temperament,  it  does  not  change  it. 

The  Lord  takes  men  as  they  are,  and  works  in  and 
through  their  very  idiosyncrasies,  so  as  to  produce  in  His 
Church  that  unity  in  variety  which'  is  the  charm  of  the 
physical  universe.  Do  not  fret,  therefore,  over  that  which 
is  the  result  of  temperament.  Keep  resisting  it,  and  take 
to  yourself  the  helping  hand  which  the  Lord  stretches 
down  to  you  in  the  precious  injunction  of  the  text. 

(2)  Spiritual" despondency  may  be  caused  by  disease. 
The  connection  between  soul  and  body  is  both  intimate 

and  mysterious.  They  act  and  react  upon  each  other, 
and  a  sound  body  is  in  all  ordinary  cases  necessary  to  the 
sound  mind. 

(3)  Spiritual  despondency  is  often  the  result  of  trial. 

"  Ye  are  in  heaviness  through  manifold  trials."  One 
affliction  will  not  usually  becloud  our  horizon.  But  when 
a  whole  series  of  distresses  comes  to  us  in  succession,  the 
effect  is  terrible.  Only  those  who  have  passed  through 
a  series  of  afflictions  and  who  can  say  in  the  words  of  the 
old  prophet,  "  He  hath  barked  my  fig  tree,  and  made  it 
clean  bare,"  can  tell  how  much  there  is  in  such  a  history 
to  weigh  the  spirit  down.  Nay,  the  same  effect  may  be 
produced  by  the  mere  monotony  of  our  labour  without 
any  special  affliction. 

(4)  Spiritual  despondency  may  be  caused  by  mental 
perplexity. 

We  are  living  in  an  age  when  the  spirit  of  inquiry  and 
bold  independent  criticism  is  abroad.  The  old  beliefs  are 
once  more  on  their  trial,  and  when  a  youth  reaches  the 
age  when  he  must  exchange  a  traditional  piety  for  a 
personal    conviction,    he    is   plunged   for  a  time  into  the 


212  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

greater  misery.  One  assails  him  on  the  supernatural 
character  of  Christ  ;  another  on  the  authority  of  the 
scriptures  ;  and  others,  bolder  still,  will  question  even  the 
existence  of  God  to  him.  And  so  he  is  launched  on  a 
black  and  stormy  sea  over  which  he  toils  in  rowing,  and 
even  when  in  the  fourth  watch  the  Lord  appears  to  him, 
marching  over  the  waves,  he  is  so  broken  down  that  he 
mistakes  the  Master  for  a  ghost  and  is  affrighted.  When 
a  soul  is  called  to  pass  through  such  a  trial,  it  is  agony, 
deep,  intense  agony.  Let  those  who  are  thus  walking  in 
darkness  take  to  themselves  the  comfort  of  the  text,  and 
walk  on  in  the  full  assurance  that  there  is  light  beyond. 

II.  The  counsels  to  the  desponding  which  are  suggested 
by  the  text. 

(i)  The  oppressed  spirit  must  keep  on  fearing  the  Lord 
and  obeying  the  voice  of  His  servant. 

(2)  The  oppressed  spirit  must  keep  on  trusting  God. 
"  Let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  stay  upon 
his  God." 

When  we  cannot  see,  it  is  an  unspeakable  blessing  to 
have  some  hand  to  cling  to  ;  and  when  that  hand  is  God's, 
it  is  all  right.  What  is  that  name  in  which  I  am  to  trust  ? 
It  is  "Jehovah,  God  merciful  and  gracious;  long-suffering; 
purifying  iniquity  and  sin  ;  and  who  will  by  no  means 
clear  the  guilty."  Therefore  I  need  not  despair  about  my 
guilt,  for  there  is  forgiveness  with  Him.  What  is  that 
name?  It  is  Jehovah  Tsidkenu  — the  Lord  our  righteous- 
ness ;  therefore  we  may  in  Him  have  boldness  in  the 
day  of  judgment.  It  is  Jehovah  Rophek — the  Lord  that 
healeth  thee  ;  therefore  I  may  bring  all  my  spiritual 
maladies  to  Him  for  cure.  It  is  Jehovah  Jireh — the  Lord 
will  provide.  It  is  Jehovah  Nissi — the  Lord  my  banner, 
and  as  I  unfurl  that  signal  I  may  see  in  it  the  symbol  of 
His  protection.  It  is  Jehovah  Shalom — the  Lord  of  peace, 
and  so  beneath  His  sheltering  wing  I  may  be  for  ever  at 
rest. 

Then  note  the  meaning  of  that  word  "stay."  It  does 
not  bid  you  only  take  a  momentary  grasp  of  God's  hand. 
It  encourages  you  to  lean  your  whole  weight  upon  Him, 
and  to  do  that  continually,  and  He  will  not  cast  you 
off. 

VV.  M.  T. 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  213 

CVII.  The  Origin  of  Christianity.  Isa.  li.  i. 
"  Look  to  the  rock  whence  ye  are  hewn,  and  to  the  pit  whence 
ye  are  digged. " 

The  subject  before  us  is  the  impossibility  of  account- 
ing for  the  "origins"  of  Christianity  on  purely  natural 
grounds,  or,  in  other  words,  the  impossibility  of  its  being 
other  than  a  true  religion  in  its  simple  historic  aspect  as 
involving  supernatural  facts. 

I.  If  Jesus  did  no  superhuman  act,  how  is  His  character 
to  be  explained  ?  He  asserts  an  authority  ;  He  demands 
an  obedience  to  which  no  mere  teacher  has  a  right ;  He 
promises  what  no  mere  teaching  can  possibly  impart.  "  He 
that  loyeth  father  or  mother  more  than  Me  is  not  worthy 
of  Me."  "Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to  them  of  old, 
but  I  say  unto  you  "—things  quite  different,  contradictory! 
These  are  characteristic  sayings,  bearing  the  undoubted 
stamp  of  genuineness  ;  no  Jew  could  have  invented  them. 
Where  do  such  expressions  land  us  in  evaluating  the 
character  of  Jesus,  if  He  were  what  it  is  fashionable  now 
to  deem  Him  ? 

Look  again  at  the  strange  absence,  in  every  recorded 
word  of  Jesus,  of  the  slightest  trace  of  guilt  or  even  of 
imperfection.  The  feeling  of  sinlessness  pervades  His 
whole  recorded  life.  Who  was  ever  like  Him  in  this 
respect  ?  The  difficulty  created  by  the  inseparable  inter- 
weaving of  the  miraculous  in  the  history  and  character  of 
Jesus  is  yet  unsolved  by  unbelievers. 

II.  How  came  Christ's  followers,  immediately  after  His 
death,  to  set  up  a  religion  professedly  derived  from  Him, 
but  based  on  so  entirely  false  a  conception  of  what  He 
"actually  did  ?  Nothing  can  explain  their  actions,  nothing 
can  explain  their  success,  save  their  strong  belief  in  the 
resurrection.  In  a  few  years  they  had  persuaded  myriads 
of  Jews  in  Jerusalem  and  elsewhere  to  share  their  belief. 
The  true  upshot  of  all  theories  which  deny  the  super- 
natural character  of  Christianity  may  be  expressed  in  the 
pathetic  words  of  a  modern  sceptical  writer,  "  We  know 
nothing,  life  is  a  journey  between  two  long  nights.  All 
that  we  can  deem  certain  is  that  at  intervals  a  parental 
smile  traverses  nature,  and  reveals  to  us  that  an  eye  looks 
down  on  us,  and  a  heart  follows  us."     But  once  started  on 


214  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

the  downward  road  of  scepticism,  we  must  go  down  the 
incline  till  we  reach  the  bottom,  where  no  paternal  "  eye  " 
is  felt  to  watch  us,  no  paternal  "  heart "  to  follow  us,  and 
we  feel  that  not  of  one  great  malefactor  only,  but  of  all 
mankind  it  may  truly  be  said,  "it  would  have  been  good 
for  us  not  to  have  been  born." 

C.  P.  R. 


CVIII.  A  Threefold  Appeal.  IsA.li.9,10.  "Awake! 
awake  !  put  on  strength,  O  arm  of  the  Lord.  Awake,  as  in 
the  ancient  days,  in  the  generations  of  old  I  Art  thou  not  it 
that  hath  cut  Rahab,  and  wounded  the  dragon  ?  Art  thou 
not  it  which  hath  dried  the  sea,  the  waters  of  the  great  deep ; 
that  hath  made  the  depths  of  the  sea  a  way  for  the  ransomed  to 
pass  over  ?  " 

RAHAB,  or  pride,  is  the  name  for  Egypt,  given  to  it  on 
account  of  its  contempt  for  all  foreigners,  and  its  haughty 
national  character.  "The  dragon"  is  an  old  prophecy  of 
the  emblem  of  Pharaoh.  Egypt  is  to  be  considered  as  the 
symbol  of  the  world  against  which  the  children  of  God 
are  pledged  to  fight.  From  this  life-long  struggle  it  is 
impossible  to  escape,  save  by  cowardly  desertion  into  the 
ranks  of  Satan.  The  wise  son  of  God  recognises  this  fact 
— cherishes  a  spirit  of  mingled  fear  and  confidence  as  he 
thinks  of  that  spiritual  Egypt  in  which  the  Lord  was 
crucified.  He  thinks  of  it  with  fear,  knowing  his  own 
weakness,  and  the  power  of  the  enemy  by  which  he  is 
confronted.  He  thinks  of  it  with  confidence,  because  he 
knows  that  he  can  never  finally  be  destroyed  so  long  as  he 
fights  in  the  strength  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 

How  far  Isaiah  realized  the  import  of  his  words  is  a 
matter  of  secondary  importance.  Enough  for  us  that  they 
express  exactly  the  spirit  in  which  we  have  to  address 
ourselves  to  this  great  and  glorious  battle.  The  words 
from  part  of  a  threefold  appeal  to  God  and  the  Church. 
It  is  a  grand  appeal — an  appeal  worthy  of  that  glorious, 
free  Jerusalem  into  which  we  nave  been  baptized. 

The  principle  of  the  warfare  that  is  suggested  by  the 
text  is  the  same  that  is  taught  in  the  New  Testament, 
for  there  is  a  marvellous  continuity  in  scripture.     Those 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  215 


who  study  it  devotionally  are  almost  startled  to  see  the 
same  grand  principles  underlying  the  entire  volume.  It 
is  exactly  the  principle  of  the  5th  chapter  of  1  John. 
"  Whatsoever  is  born  of  God  overcometh  the  world  ;  and 
this  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our 
faith."  Faith  is  the  gift  of  God.  It  is  bestowed  by  God 
the  Holy  Ghost.  The  habit  of  faith  must  be  formed  ;  like 
every  other  habit  alike  in  the  natural  and  in  the  spiritual 
world,  we  must  in  this,  as  in  everything  else,  be  fellow- 
workers  with  God. 

I.  God  desires  that  our  faith  should  be  centred  on  the 
Lord  Jesus — as  man,  to  be  with  us  ;  as  God,  to  help  us. 
We  appeal  to  Him,  "  Put  on  thy  strength  for  us,  O  Christ ! 
Awake,  as  in  the  ancient  days,  in  the  generations  of  old. 
Awake,  awake,  thou  that  hast  cut  Rahab,  and  wounded 
the  dragon,  and  destroyed  the  world,  and  delivered  us  from 
its  power." 

II.  This  is  the  victory  that  overcomes — confidence  that 
we  are  united  to  Christ  and  made  to  be  partakers  of  the 
Divine  nature.  Do  we  cry  "I  am  so  weak  ?  "  Then  Christ 
bids  us  remember  that  the  same  life  and  the  same  power 
has  been  poured  into  men  and  into  women  as  weak  and  as 
helpless  as  ourselves. 

III.  This  is  the  victory  that  overcomes — confidence  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 
We  are  fighting  under  an  invisible  but  a  most  mighty 
Leader.  We  are  fighting  as  it  were  in  the  mist  ;  and  oft- 
times  the  form  of  the  great  General  is  hidden  from  us. 
The  mist  breaks  ;  we  catch  for  a  moment  just  a  sight  of 
that  glorious  white  raiment  of  the  all  conquering  King,  and 
then  the  mist  gathers  round  again.  But  thanks  be  to  God 
the  victory  is  sure.  He  gives  us  the  victory  through  Jesus 
Christ  the  Lord. 

G.  H.  W. 

CIX.    The  Care  of  God.     Isa.  Hi.  12.     "The  God  of  Israel 

will  be  your  reward." 

Ps.  xxxiii.  6.     "  Surely  goodness  and  mercy  shall  follow  me? 

THESE  two  passages  are  the  expression  by  different  men 
in  different  ages  of  the  same  religious  confidence  ;  a  confi- 
dence in  an  unseen   Presence  shielding  them  from   harm 


216  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

and  injury  ;  confidence  in  an  unseen  Presence  encompassing 
the  weak,  and  that  might  be  depended  on  for  protection 
and  support  from  danger  of  whatever  form ;  in  an  unseen 
Presence  covering  unguarded  points  and  accompanying 
unguarded  moments.  In  the  psalm,  King  David  speaks, 
probably  as  the  close  of  his  life  was  drawing  nigh,  with  a 
remembrance  of  a  life  full  of  mercies  from  his  earlier  days, 
and  with  the  trust  which  a  life  experience  had  taught  him 
to  repose  in  Jehovah's  care  and  providence.  He  sings  to 
Him  as  Shepherd,  and,  remembering  what  he  had  been 
himself  in  his  youth,  the  figure  had  a  world  of  meaning  in 
it.  "  The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd  ;  I  shall  not  want.  He 
maketh  me  to  lie  down  in  green  pastures  ;  He  leadeth  me 
beside  the  still  waters."  He  too,  like  those  sheep  of  Jesse's 
which  were  once  his  charge,  was  in  the  hands  of  One  who 
looked  after  and  guided  his  steps,  who  knew  how  to  restore 
him  when  he  wandered  from  the  right  way  and  went  into 
the  wrong  path,  and  who  would  sustain  him  when  he  passed 
through  the  dark  valley,  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death, 
unto  which  he  was  drawing  nigh.  Then  he  sings  of 
Jehovah  again  as  a  host  entertaining  him  at  a  feast  even 
while  difficulties  lay  thick  around  him  ;  in  the  midst  of 
these,  in  spite  of  these,  the  Lord  gave  him  inward  peace. 
He  was  a  traveller  in  the  desert  finding  a  banquet  spread 
for  him  by  the  way  ;  the  Lord  made  him  glad  with  His 
countenance  though  the  outward  scene  and  surroundings 
were  gloomy.  And  then  he  winds  up  his  song  by  repre- 
senting Jehovah  as  a  solid  column  of  defence  between  him 
and  the  enemies  who  were  pursuing  him.  They  might  be 
following  him  closely  but  Jehovah  was  following  him  also 
and  much  more  closely.  There  were  enemies  whose  secret 
step  was  unknown  to  him,  but  before  them  was  the  Lord, 
the  Lord  mighty  to  save,  the  pledge  of  never-failing  good- 
ness and  mercy  ;  so  that  however  portentous  the  circum- 
stances, he  was  living  and  would  be  living  in  safety  all  his 
days. 

King  David  is  no  more,  but  still  his  spirit  of  belief  re- 
mains, and  now  far  down  the  century  is  Isaiah,  who  in  the 
book  of  his  prophecy  repeats  the  same  strain  of  holy 
confidence  ;  looking  forward  to  a  time  of  bitter  adversity 
for  his  nation  during  which  they  would  be  suffering 
bondage   and  oppression,   he  yet  anticipates  an  ultimate 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  217 

glory  and  deliverance.  He  sees,  beyond  the  lamentations, 
the  multitude  of  captives,  their  chains  broken,  going  forth 
not  in  haste  as  of  old,  but  at  their  leisure  and  with  thanks- 
giving ;  and  he  sees  that  same  progress  and  the  successful 
issue  of  the  march  secured  by  the  attendance  of  an  invisible 
escort,  the  Lord  moving  before  them  and  the  God  of  Israel 
offering  a  sure  protection  and  guard  against  all  mischief 
that  might  come  upon  them. 

These  words  of  Isaiah  and  David  suggest  certain  reflec- 
tions. 

I.  The  ugly  things  that  are  waiting  in  the  way  for  us 
like  ambuscades.  How  sometimes  ugly  things  have  lurked 
in  our  path,  black  with  sorrow,  that  could  have  been  so 
easily  avoided  had  we  only  known.  But  we  knew  not,  we 
suspected  not,  and  went  forward  lightly  as  if  we  were  about 
to  receive  a  boon  ;  and  the  calamity  comes  which  the 
starting  of  a  new  idea,  a  moving  aside,  might  have  sufficed 
to  remove.  If  a  hint  could  have  been  granted,  if  some- 
thing could  have  happened  to  guard  our  movements,  just 
to  incline  us  to  caution  and  watchfulness  ;  the  least  thing 
might  have  been  enough  to  save  us  and  secure  a  redemp- 
tion. If  the  President  of  the  United  States,"  for  instance, 
had  had  a  presentiment  of  disaster  so  as  to  arrest  the  act 
of  his  murderer,  what  a  difference  it  would  have  made. 
Often  have  men  said,  "  Oh,  why  were  we  not  led  to  hesi- 
tate, to  shrink  back  ?  Why  did  no  foreboding  arise  ?  Had 
only  something  occurred  to  detain  us,  to  make  us  lose  that 
train,  to  relinquish  that  enterprise." 

II.  Occasionally,  indeed,  we  are  disturbed  before  mis- 
fortune or  disaster  with  some  idea  or  presentiment  of  evil, 
and  which  we  have  shaken  off,  and  it  has  seemed  to  us  as 
if  some  guardian  angel  had  been  seeking  to  save  us.  Now 
and  again  how  remarkably  presentiments  have  come  to  be 
effectual  in  snatching  from  death.  A  man  has  withdrawn 
a  decision  in  obedience  to  an  impulse  which  he  has  been 
unable  to  explain.  It  has  proved  afterwards  the  best  thing 
he  could  have  done  ;  or  else  he  has  been  hindered  from 
some  action,  to  his  extreme  annoyance,  and  that  hindrance 
has  saved  him. 

III.  But  in  the  case  of  each  of  us,  how  close  we  have 
often  been,  without  perceiving,  to  calamities  from  which 
we  have  been  spared.     How  many  dangers  we  have  been 


2i8  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

enabled  to  escape,  unknown  to  ourselves,  just  by  a  hair's 
breadth.  Were  these  displayed  before  us  what  a  grim  and 
ghastly  host  would  be  revealed  !  We  have  run  along,  quite 
unconsciously,  the  edge  of  dark  pits.  Not  seldom  would 
our  heart  be  strangely  agitated  with  wonder  and  awe  and 
gratitude  and  love  if  we  could  have  seen  all  we .  have 
escaped  from  during  our  life. 

IV.  And  again,  might  we  not  say  that  goodness  and 
mercy  are  frequently  following  us  to  our  salvation  from 
mischief,  in  our  better  thoughts  that  come  in  the  wiser 
mind  that  presently  awakens  and  scatters  the  evil  ?  If  all 
the  inward  evil  promptings  we  have  had  were  carried  out, 
if  we  had  been  abandoned  to  do  all  the  evil  longings  and 
desires  we  were  disposed  to  do !  why  what  precipices  we 
have  been  snatched  from  at  the  very  brink.  St.  John  of 
the  Apocalypse  beheld  a  door  opened  in  Heaven  and  heard 
a  voice  inviting  to  ascend.  Have  we  not  had  a  door  opened 
from  hell,  and  has  it  not  been  suddenly  shut,  and  thus  we 
have  been  saved  ?  We  have  seen  the  possibilities  of  evil 
in  us  that  have  made  us  shudder.  Goodness  and  mercy 
have  followed  us.  Or  suppose  that  in  certain  moments  of 
passion,  of  relaxation,  opportunity  had  concurred — it  has 
concurred  with  others,  to  their  utter  undoing,  in  like  moods 
and  moments.  The  opportunity  that  might  have  been  our 
undoing  did  not  concur  and  we  have  been  rescued.  How 
much  of  what  we  call  our  virtue  has  arisen  from  the  non- 
opportunity  of  what  might  have  been  the  very  opposite. 
We  have  been  hedged  in  and  guarded.  Under  certain  cir- 
cumstances and  under  certain  influences  something  terrible 
might  have  happened  to  us.  Can  we  not  say  on  looking 
back  in  such  crises,  that  our  God  was  before  us  and  encom- 
passed us  and  saved  us  ?  What  should  we  have  been  if  we 
had  not  been  environed  by  His  presence — who  can  tell 
what  our  conduct  might  have  been  ? 

V.  How  many  can  give  sincere  thanks  for  sorrows  and 
misfortunes  which  came  just  in  time  to  ripen  and  restore 
them  just  as  they  were  sinking  into  doing  and  going 
wrong.  Do  they  not  recall  with  gratitude  how  in  some 
directions  in  which  they  were  feverishly  anxious,  disappoint- 
ment came  and  turned  them  from  the  low  flats  on  which 
they  had  found  them  back  to  the  high  levels  on  which 
they  have  built.     Oh  !  what  rest  this  has  given  them,  what 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  219 

peace :  it  is  as  if  they  had  been  visited  by  an  angel  of  the 
Lord  sent  to  save  them.  In  that  prosperity  they  were  de- 
teriorating inwardly,  gradually  losing  that  fineness  of  heart 
which  before  had  distinguished  them,  and  who  can  say  to 
what  it  might  have  grown  ?  But  presently  there  came 
trouble,  disappointment,  sorrow,  and  in  these  you  came  out 
better,  and  stronger,  and  nobler,  and  recovered  tone. 

VI.  And  now  once  more.  True  as  it  is  that  we  are  con- 
stantly, whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  reaping  what  we  have 
sowed,  true  as  this  is,  are  we  not  constantly  reaping  the 
fruits  of  a  bad  past  ?  Have  we  not  felt  after  enduring  the 
judgment  of  some  grievous  mistake  or  misdeed,  that  it  was 
not  so  severe  as  it  might  have  been  ?  We  indulged  yester- 
day, we  gave  way  to  passions  that  were  calculated  to  make 
us  weaker  and  more  distempered.  This  was  succeeded  by 
pangs  of  repentance,  by  a  feeling  of  deep  contrition.  We 
have  been  delivered  thus  from  a  good  deal.  It  might  have 
seemed  to  us  sometimes  that  goodness  and  mercy  have 
followed  even  our  transgressions,  for  these  have  not  pursued 
us  as  they  might  have  done.  Have  we  not  often  seen  the 
ultimate  rescue  and  shapening  of  some  whom  we  thought 
beyond  recovery  ?  While  the  iniquities  of  the  past  are 
laid  upon  us,  we  might  have  said  that  they  have  not  pur- 
sued us  to  the  utmost.  There  must  be  a  residuum  in  every 
evil  ;  but  when  you  endure  the  severe  flagellation  of  an 
unwise  past,  when  you  appear  to  be  spared  nothing,  when 
the  strokes  seem  to  fall  pitilessly,  are  we  not  fain  to  believe 
that  there  is  goodness  and  mercy  in  them,  to  give  us  de- 
liverance and  to  bring  us  home  through  their  blows  ?  Unto 
Thee,  O  Lord,  belongeth  mercy,  for  Thou  renderest  to 
every  man  according  to  his  work.  S.  A.  T. 


CX.      Missions  in  the  Light  of  the   Redeemer's 

Work.     Isa.  liii.   2.     "  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  His 
soul,  and  shall  be  satisfied." 

It  has  been  said  that  Missionary  sermons  are  not  uncom- 
monly preached  from  Old  Testament  texts,  and  it  is  no 
wonder  that  thus  it  should  be  ;  for  when  we  wish  to  glance 
afar  off,  it  is  natural  that  we  should  ascend  the  highest  hill 
we  can  find;  and  just  so  when  we  want  to  take  a  wide  view 


220  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

of  God,  and  His  purposes  towards  mankind,  we  seek  those 
great  mountain  ranges  called  the  Prophecies  of  Isaiah. 
These  prophecies  look  forward  to  our  own  times,  to  the 
millennial  times,  and  to  the  everlasting  days. 

We  shall  look  at  missions  in  their  vital  connection  with 
Him  who  is  the  one  theme  of  all  missions,  the  one  head  of 
every  Missionary  Society. 

I.  Let  us  consider  the  travail  of  the  Redeemer's  soul. 
We  may  well  pause  and  inquire  what  was  that  soul  itself 
that  thus  travailed.  Who  can  tell  how  deep  and  strong 
and  sensitive  was  His  pure  soul  ?  That  soul  was  ever  at 
war  with  sin.  Christ  did  not  go  through  any  make-believe 
conflict  with  sin,  but  while  tempted  in  all  things,  He  never 
gave  way  to  the  temptation.  That  soul  of  Jesus  travailed. 
That  His  body  travailed  is  obvious  enough;  that  His  heart 
suffered,  and  that  He  had  much  to  forego  for  the  sake  of 
His  work,  is  also  true.  But  who  can  describe  or  conceive 
what  was  the  travail  of  His  soul  ?  His  soul  was  ever  work- 
ing and  suffering.  When  He  was  twelve  years  of  age  (and 
that  is  the  one  glimpse  we  have  in  those  thirty  years  before 
He  began  His  mission),  He  said,  "Wist  ye  not  that  I  must 
be  about  My  Father's  business  ?  "  And  who  can  tell  what 
experience  He  went  through  during  these  thirty  years  ? 
We  know  no  more  of  them  than  we  know  of  the  forty  years 
that  Moses  spent  in  the  wilderness  when  God  was  preparing 
him  for  his  great  work.  Surely  Christ  went  through  much 
suffering  and  conflict  and  hidden  labour,  that  was  needful 
to  prepare  Him  when  the  hour  had  come.  The  sorrows 
of  His  passion  when  He  saw  them  from  afar,  troubled 
Him.  "  Now  is  my  soul  troubled  ;  and  what  shall  I  say : 
Father,  save  Me  from  this  hour."  But  saving  Himself, 
He  would  not  have  saved  us,  and  therefore  He  went 
through  to  the  bitter  end. 

II.  The  certainty  of  Christ  seeing  of  the  travail  of  His 
soul.  Did  the  Redeemer  endure  these  sufferings  for  nought? 
Rather  might  we  believe  that  a  good  seed  falling  into  good 
ground  bears  no  fruit.  He  is  sure  to  see  fruit ;  He  has 
begun  to  see  it.  He  began  to  see  it  at  the  very  hour  when 
He  rose  from  the  dead,  and  He  shall  see  it  on  a  larger 
scale,  and  with  a  fuller  scope,  when  the  day  comes,  and  the 
words  of  the  prophet  shall  be  fulfilled,  "  He  shall  see  of 
the  travail  of  His  soul  and  be  satisfied."     We  sinners  are 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  221 

the  gift  of  the  Father  to  the  Son,  we  are  the  very  object  of 
the  prayer  of  Christ,  we  are  the  answer  of  the  Father  to 
the  Son.  "  Ask,  and  I  shall  give  Thee  the  heathen  for 
thine  inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for 
Thy  possession."  When  we  ask  that  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth  shall  be  given  to  the  Lord,  we  are  simply 
praying  His  prayer,  and  we  are  sure  to  be  heard  by  Him 
who  heareth  Christ  alway. 

III.  He  shall  be  satisfied.  What  a  word  is  this  "satis- 
fied !  "  Who  is  satisfied  in  this  world  ?  What  mind  or 
heart  can  say  I  am  satisfied  ?  Christ  shall  be  satisfied  in 
His  Father's  grace.  He  shall  be  satisfied  in  the  salvation 
of  men  ;  He  shall  be  satisfied,  because  His  love  shall  have 
found  its  response  ;  because  His  sufferings  shall  have  borne 
their  fruit.  There  is  no  stronger  incentive  than  this  to 
missionary  zeal  and  missionary  work.  Can  I  not  do  some- 
thing and  bear  something  that  Christ  may  be  satisfied  ? 

T.  M. 


CXI.  The  Silence  of  Christ.  Isa.  liii.  7.  "He  was 
oppressed,  and  He  was  afflicted,  yet  He  opened  not  His  mouth : 
He  is  brought  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  before 
her  shearers  is  dumb,  so  He  openeth  not  His  mouth." 

After  the  trial  and  condemnation  of  our  Lord  by  Caiaphas 
and  the  Sanhedrin,  He  was  led  away  to  the  Procurator  or 
Roman  Governor  of  Judaea,  Pontius  Pilate,  to  be  tried  over 
again.  The  reason  for  this  procedure  appears  to  have  been 
that  the  Jewish  Sanhedrin  at  this  time  had  no  power  to 
inflict,  although  they  might  pronounce,  the  punishment  of 
death  on  criminals ;  and  Christ  was  therefore  arraigned 
before  Pilate  to  procure  Pilate's  authority  to  carry  out  the 
capital  sentence  which  had  already  been  pronounced  upon 
Him.  It  does  not,  however,  appear  that  Jesus  was  entirely 
silent  before  Pilate,  for  to  Pilate's  first  question,  which  was 
founded  on  the  formal  accusation  that  had  been  laid 
against  Jesus  (Luke  xxiii.  2),  "Art  Thou  the  King  of  the 
Jews?"  our  Lord  answered  just  as  He  had  answered  the 
High  Priest  under  similar  circumstances,  "Thou  sayest  " 
(compare  Mark  xiv.  62,  with  Matt.  xvi.  64) ;  and  in  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John  we  find  this  was  followed  by  those 
memorable  words  concerning  the  true   nature  of  Christ's 


224  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

of  human  lives,  but  the  words,  "  The  Word  was  made  flesh 
and  dwelt  among  us,  full  of  grace  and  truth." 

II.  But  it  is  the  continual  wonder  of  the  character  of 
Jesus  that  though  it  is  so  unlike  any  human  character,  so 
far  above  the  highest  elevation  to  which  we  can  attain, 
yet  the  contemplation  of  Christ  never  disheartens  nor  dis- 
courages us  in  our  endeavour  to  imitate  Him.  Some  ideals 
crush  all  achievement  by  their  very  remoteness  and  eleva- 
tion ;  but  here  is  confessedly  the  highest  moral  ideal  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  and  yet  to  look  at  it,  to  linger  over  it, 
to  ponder  it  again  and  again,  until  we  see  new  wonder  and 
beauty  in  it,  is  not  to  quench  all  effort  to  grow  like  it,  but 
to  inspire  us  with  new  desire  "to  follow  Him."  The  great- 
ness of  Christ's  example  is  not  its  only  marvel,  but  that 
with  its  greatness  we  should  feel  it  is  an  example  for  us, 
one  we  can  follow  and  make  our  own,  is  a  greater  wonder 
still.  "  He  left  us  an  example  that  we  should  follow  in  His 
steps  ; "  and  those  who  follow  Him  most  nearly  at  once 
see  most  of  the  unutterable  loveliness  and  grandeur  of  His 
character,  and  grow  likest  to  it. 

III.  There  are  very  few  of  us  to  whom  that  single  aspect 
of  the  character  of  Christ  which  is  portrayed  in  our  text, 
His  bearing  injustice  and  malignity  and  false  accusation 
with  silence,  will  not  teach  a  lesson  we  need  to  learn.  We 
are  so  quick  to  resent  injury  ;  so  ready  to  denounce  malice, 
especially  when  it  is  directed  against  ourselves  ;  so  vehe- 
ment in  our  indignation  when  we  are  unjustly  accused,  that 
our  very  indignation  may  sometimes  lead  us  into  sin  in 
defending  right  against  wrong.  It  is  not  easy  to  be  silent 
when  the  words  of  passionate  protest  against  iniquity  are 
burning  on  our  tongue,  or  when  we  are  made  to  "  suffer  for 
righteousness'  sake."  But  there  are  times  when  we  follow 
our  Lord  most  closely,  and  serve  His  cause  best,  by  quietly 
and  meekly  bearing  injustice  without  a  word.  And  nothing 
will  so  help  us  thus  to  suffer  and  be  silent  as  the  remem- 
berance  of  Him  who  "did  no  sin,  neither  was  guile  found 
in  His  mouth  ;  who,  when  He  was  reviled,  reviled  not 
again  ;  when  He  suffered,  threatened  not,  but  committed 
Himself  to  Him  that  judgeth  righteously,"  and  the  right- 
eousness of  whose  cause  all  the  years  that  have  gone  by 
since  He  suffered  have  only  served  to  vindicate. 

G.  S.  B. 


OLD  TESTAMENT,  225 

CXII.  God's  Loving  Kindness.  Isa.  liv.  10.  "For 
the  mountains  shall  depart,  and  the  hills  be  removed;  but  My 
kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee  ;  neither  shall  the  covenant 
of  My  peace  be  removed,  saith  the  Lord  that  hath  mercy  upon 
us." 

There  is  something  of  music  in  the  flowing  sound  of  these 
words.  The  stately  march  of  the  grand  English  transla- 
tion lends  itself  with  wonderful  beauty  to  the  melody  of 
Isaiah's  words.  But  the  thought  that  lies  below  them, 
sweeping  as  it  does  through  the  whole  creation,  and  part- 
ing all  things  into  the  transient  material,  and  the  immortal 
Divine,  is  still  greater  than  the  music  of  the  words.  These 
are  removed,  this  abides.  And  the  thing  in  God  which 
abides  is  that  gentle  tenderness,  that  strange  love,  mightier 
than  all  the  powers  of  Divinity  besides,  and  permanent 
with  the  permanence  of  His  changeless  heart.  "The 
mountains  shall  depart,"  the  emblems  of  eternity  shall 
crumble  and  change  and  pass,  and  "the  hills  shall  be 
removed,"  but  this  immaterial,  impalpable,  and  in  some 
minds  fantastic  and  unreal  something,  the  thought, — and  as 
some  of  you  think,  the  dream,  that  shall  outlast  them  all, 
"  My  loving  kindness,  and  the  covenant  of  My  peace." 
And  for  guarantee  of  that  we  have  the  revelation  of  the 
intimate  and  inmost  nature  and  character  of  God  in  its 
bearings  upon  me :  "  saith  the  Lord  that  hath  mercy  upon 
us." 

I.  Think,  first  of  all,  of  that  great  antithesis  that  is  set 
before  us — what  passes  and  what  abides, — and  then  draw  two 
or  three  marked  lessons  and  applications  from  the  thoughts 
thus  suggested.  First  of  all  then,  we  have  to  deal  with 
the  contrast  between  the  apparently  enduring  which  passes, 
and  that  which  truly  abides.  The  mountains  depart,  the 
hills  shall  be  removed,  etc.  To  begin  with,  a  word  or  two 
about  that  first  thought:  "the  mountains  shall  depart." 
There  they  tower  over  the  plain.  Lebanon  looks  down 
upon  the  flat  valley  beneath  it,  as  it  did  when  Isaiah  spoke  ; 
the  strong  buttresses  of  the  hills  stand,  and,  to  the  eye  of 
the  fleeting  generations  that  ebb  away  beneath  their  silent 
cliffs,  they  seem  the  very  emblems  of  permanence.  And 
yet  winter  storms  and  summer  heats,  and  the  slow  process 
of  decay,  which  we  call  "  the  gnawing  tooth  of  time,"  is 

Q 


226  OUTLINES  ON   THE 

ever  working  upon  these,  chasing  them  into  form,  and 
changing  their  outlines,  and  at  last  they  shall  pass.  Mo- 
dern science,  while  it  has  enlarged  all  but  incalculably 
our  conceptions  of  the  duration  of  the  material  universe, 
emphasises,  as  faith  alone  never  could,  the  thought  of  the 
the  destined  perishableness  of  all  the  material  world.  For 
geology  tells  us  that  where  rears  the  mountain  there  rolled 
the  sea  ;  that  across  through  the  cycles  of  the  shaping  of 
the  history  of  the  world  there  have  been  elevations  and 
depressions,  so  that  the  ancient  hills  in  many  places  are 
the  newest  of  all  things,  and  the  world's  forms  have 
changed  many  and  many  times  since  first  it  circled  round 
its  centre  sun.  The  recent  researches  that  carry  men's 
thoughts  forwards  tell  us  that  as  certainly  as  science  can 
read  the  past,  there  will  come  a  time  when  all  matter,  by 
reason  of  that  great  law  of  dispersion  and  energy,  shall: 
be  agglomerated  into  one  uniform  temperature,  when  all 
life,  and  all  that  is  in  it,  shall  cease  to  be.  And  so  Peter's 
word  of  prophecy  is  verified  by  the  last  bold  researches 
of  the  most  recent  science,  "the  earth  and  all  that  therein 
is  shall  be  burnt  up,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with 
fervent  heat."  No  man  should  be  able  to  utter  with 
such  profound  conviction  and  certitude  these  great  words 
of  my  text,  '"  the  mountains  shall  depart  and  the  hills  be 
removed,"  as  the  men  that  devote  themselves  to  physical 
science  to-day. 

But  there  is  something  more  than  that  here  :  there  is  the 
emblem  of  it,  a  part  of  it  ;  cursed  with  transiency,  cer- 
tainly the  past  shall  fade.  And  you  and  I  stand  in  mid- 
life, and  we  look  round  us  and  see  all  this  creatural  exist- 
ence,— it  is  but  a  ripple  upon  the  surface  of  the  great  sea  ; 
and  those  milleniums  of  ages  which  may  have  passed,  or 
may  still  have  to  pass,  they  are  but  an  incident  in  the  great 
eternal  silence  of  the  years, — and  so  we  begin  to  think  that 
humanity  is  small  and  that  life  is  insignificant, and  sometimes 
to  feel  as  i(  we  were  orphaned  and  nothing  were  left  to  us. 
And  so  we  come  to  the  words  of  my  text,  "  the  mountains 
shall  depart,  and  the  hills  be  removed  ;  but  My  kindness 
shall  not  depart  from  thee."  And  to  turn  for  a  moment  to 
that  other  side  of  the  great  thought,  rising  higher — for  all 
that  filmy  material,  which,  though  it  counts  its  existence 
by  milleniums,   is  but  for  an  instant, — towers  to  the  eye 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  227 


that  sees  deep  enough  and  high  enough  into  the  realities 
of  things,  the  Present  Spirit  who  can  move  all  the  material 
things  Himself  and  live  undiminished  by  Creation,  and  un- 
diminished after  Creation  is  swept  out  of  existence.  Let 
that  which  may  pass,  pass  ;  that  which  can  perish,  perish  ; 
the  mountains  crumble  and  the  hills  melt  away  ;  beyond 
the  smoke,  and  athwart  the  conflagration,  and  rising  high 
above  the  destruction  and  the  chaos,  stands  the  calm  throne 
of  God,  with  a  love  to  us,  with  a  counsel  of  peace  and  a 
purpose  of  mercy  for  you  and  for  me,  the  creatures  of 
a  day,  that  shall  live  when  the  days  have  ceased  to  be. 
Look  how  there  come  out  of  those  words  thoughts  of  that 
Divine  relationship  to  us  which  are  meant  to  strengthen  us 
in  the  contemplation  of  that  which  is  perishable,  and  amid 
the  changing  of  all  that  is  material. 

"  My  kindness  "  !  That  is  a  wonderful  word,  so  far  from 
the  cold  adoration  of  so-called  Theism.  "  My  kindness." 
The  tender-heartedness  of  an  infinite  love  ;  the  bending, 
yearning  favour  of  the  Father  of  my  spirit  ;  His  gentle 
goodness  bending  down  to  me,  and  round  all  its  tremulous 
tenderness  casts  the  solemnity  of  eternity.  Love  never  can 
die  wherever  it  is,  but  the  immortal  love  is  the  love  of  God; 
.and  the  one  thing  that  lasts  in  the  universe  is  He,  His 
kindness,  and  the  creatures  that  receive  it.  Everything 
else  is  for  a  day,  that  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting. 
"  My  kindness" — what  a  revelation  of  God  !  Oh,  if  only 
our  hearts  could  open  to  the  right  acceptance  of  that 
thought,  sorrow  and  care  and  anxiety,  and  every  other  foe 
to  peace  and  purity,  would  fade  away,  and  we  should  be  at 
rest.  The  infinite,  undying,  imperishable  love  of  God  is 
mine  ;  older  than  the  mountains,  deeper  than  their  roots 
in  the  great  abyss,  wider  than  the  heavens,  and  strongcr 
than  all  my  sins,  is  the  love  that  grasps  me  and  keeps  nit-, 
and  will  not  let  me  go — that  lavishes  its  tenderness  upon 
me,  and  beseeches  me,  and  pleads  with  me,  and  woos  me, 
and  rebukes  me,  and  corrects  me,  and  sent  His  Son  to  die 
for  me  :  "  My  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  you." 

And  then  there  is  the  other  side  to  the  same  thought  : 
the  consequence  and  outcome  of  that  imperishable  and 
unremovable  loving  kindness  is  what  my  calls  text  "My 
covenant  of  peace,"  or  "  the  covenant  of  My  peace."  That 
is  to  say,  we  are  to  think  of  this  great,  tender,  changeless 


228  OUTLINES   ON  THE 


love  of  God,  which  underlies  all  things,  and  towers  above 
all  things,  which  overlaps  beyond  them  all  and  fills 
eternity  ;  we  are  to  think  of  it  as  being  placed  under  a 
guarantee,  and  being  under  a  solemn  obligation.  God's 
covenant !  It  is  of  course  a  strong  metaphor,  a  violent 
one,  if  you  like  to  call  it  so,  and  yet  it  covers  for  all  that 
a  great  truth.  God  comes  into  a  covenant  with  you  and 
me,  and  His  covenant  is  this :  "  I  promise  that  My  love 
shall  never  leave  thee."  He  makes,  as  it  were,  Himself 
a  constitutional  Monarch,  so  to  speak,  giving  us  an  articu- 
late word  to  which  we  can  appeal  and  come  to  Him  and 
say  :  "  There,  that  is  the  charter  given  by  Thyself  indeed, 
and  being  given,  irrevocable  for  ever,  and  I  hold  Thee  to  it. 
Thy  covenant  is  this,  fulfil  it  O  Thou  God  of  Truth."  "  My 
covenant  of  peace."  Isaiah  spoke  a  deeper  thing  than  he 
meant  when  he  uttered  these  words.  Let  me  remind  you 
of  the  largest  possible  meaning  of  them.  "  Now  the  God 
of  peace  that  brought  again  from  the  dead  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  by  the  blood  of 
the  everlasting  covenant,  make  you  perfect  in  every  good 
work,  to  work  His  perfect  will."  God  has  bound  Himself 
by  His  promise  and  by  His  act,  and  given  you  and  me  the 
peace  that  belongs  to  His  own  nature  ;  and  that  covenant 
is  sealed  to  us  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  upon  the  cross. 
And  so,  we  sinful  men,  with  all  the  burdens  of  our  evil 
upon  us,  with  all  the  stings  of  conscience,  with  our  manifold 
sense  of  infirmities  and  failure,  we  can  turn  to  Him  and 
say :  "  Thou  hast  pledged  Thyself  to  forgive  and  to  accept, 
and  that  covenant  is  made  free  to  me  because  Thy  Son  has 
died,  and  I  come  and  ask  of  Thee  to  fulfil  it  ";  and  be  sure 
of  this,  that  no  poor  creature  upon  earth  who  puts  out  a 
hand  to  plead  that  covenant,  can  plead  in  vain.  My  brother, 
have  you  done  that  ?  Have  you  entered  into  this  covenant 
of  peace  with  God  ?  Peace  in  believing  ;  peace  that  rules  in 
the  heart  ;  peace  that  rules  between  you  and  God  ;  peace 
that  rules  amidst  all  the  perturbations  and  disturbances  of 
life  ?  Then  you  may  be  sure  that  that  covenant  will  stand 
for  evermore,  "  though  the  mountains  depart  and  the  hills 
be  removed." 

II.  So  turn  to  two  or  three  plain  practical  lessons  that 
we  may  gather  from  this  great  contrast  between  the  im- 
perishable material  and  the  immortal  Divine  life. 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  229 

(1)  First  of  all  I  want  to  put  it  in  this  shape  :  ought  not 
such  a  thought  as  this  of  my  text  to  wake  you  and  me  from 
our  setting  our  hearts  upon  these  perishable  things  ?  What 
folly  it  is,  looked  at  from  the  lowest  point  of  view,  for  a  man 
to  invest  his  effort  and  his  interest,  and  to  risk  his  hopes  and 
the  strength  and  joy  of  his  life  upon  things  that  crumble  and 
fade,  when  all  the  while  there  is  lying  before  him,  open  for 
his  entrance  and  wooing  him  to  come  in,  the  eternal  home 
of  his  spirit.  Here  are  you  and  I,  living  day  by  day, 
necessarily  planted  amidst  these  material  realities,  and  we 
are  always  tempted  to  think  they  are  the  true  abiding 
things,  and  it  needs  some  power  to  lift  us  above  this 
thought.  Philosophy  tells  that  it  helps  us  to  do  it,  pos- 
sibly in  some  ways.  Sorrow  helps  us  some  way.  But 
there  is  nothing  like  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ  Then  we 
can  see  over  these  little  permanencies  after  all,  and  know 
that  they  are  ebbing,  ebbing.  Look  at  them,  they  are 
changing  like  the  scenery  in  the  sky  there,  on  a  summer 
night,  with  its  cliffs  and  clouds  that  change  and  roll  even  as 
we  gaze  ;  where  there  was  a  mountain  there  is  a  valley ; 
where  there  was  a  depression  has  shot  up  a  spire.  The 
world  lasts  very  little  longer.  It  is  only  a  film  upon  the 
great  surface,  it  is  only  a  delusion  after  all,  there  is  no 
reality  after  all.  It  is  but  a  dream  and  a  vision,  sliding, 
sliding,  sliding  away,  and  you  and  I  slide,  slide,  sliding 
along  with  it,  only  we  are  not  going  the  same  road.  And 
so,  how  foolish,  how  foolish  and  obstinate  the  eagerness 
with  which  we  cling  to  that,  though  even  the  very  grasp  of 
our  hand  tends  to  make  it  pass  away.  Like  the  children 
that  one  saw  these  last  holidays,  coming  in  from  the  fields 
with  their  little  store  of  buttercups  and  daisies  in  their  hot 
hands,  withering  by  the  very  grasp  of  the  palm  that  keeps 
them  there.  So  our  position  and  all  that  belongs  to  this 
fleeting  world  in  the  midst  of  whose  enchantments  we  live 
for  a  brief  moment,  they  all  perish  in  the  using,  and  the 
very  having  of  them  is  the  killing  of  them.  Wilt  thou  set 
thy  heart  upon  these  things  which  are  but  for  a  moment, 
when  all  the  while,  serene,  sweet,  waiting  and  longing  to 
bless  and  love  us  stands  the  eternal  God  with  His  unchang- 
ing love  and  the  faithful  covenant  of  His  perpetual  peace. 
Surely  it  were  wiser,  wiser  to  put  it  on  the  lowest  grounds, 
to  seek  the  things  that  are  above,  and,  knowing  as  we  do, 


230  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

that  the  mountains  shall  depart  and  the  hills  be  removed, 
to  make  our  portion  the  kindness  which  shall  not  depart, 
and  seek  our  share  in  the  peace  that  shall  not  be  removed. 

(2)  There  is  another  point  that  I  would  put  in  the  same 
simple  fashion.  To  use  thoughts  like  these  of  my  text  in 
order  to  stay  the  soul  when — as  is  the  case  with  everybody 
— it  is  sometimes  made  painfully  conscious  of  the  tran- 
siency of  this  present.  Meditative  hours  come  to  us  all, 
moments  when  perhaps  some  strain  of  music  that  brings 
back  childhood's  days  ;  when  perhaps  some  perfume  of  a 
flower,  or  some  touch  of  a  sunset  sky,  or  some  words  of 
a  book,  or  some  evidence  in  ourselves,  may  pour  in  upon  our 
heart  and  mind  the  thought  of  how  everything  is  past  and 
in  the  process  of  dissolution.  All  have  got  these  thoughts, 
some  of  us  stifle  them,  they  are  not  pleasant  to  many  of 
us  ;  some  of  us  brood  over  them  unwholesomely,  and  that  is 
not  wise  ;  but  the  meaning  is  :  the  mountains  pass  and  the 
hills  are  removed  ;  that  the  covenant  may  bear  us  onward 
into  the  peaceful  region  of  that  other  thought,  yes,  and  of 
something  that  cannot  go.  And  that  is  my  home.  If  any 
of  us  have  hearts  heavy  with  earthly  loss  ;  are  bending 
under  the  weight  of  the  law,  that  everything  becomes  part 
and  parcel  of  that  dreadful  past  and  goes  away  from  us  ;  if 
any  of  us  have  empty  hands,  and  are  saying  "  they  have 
taken  away  my  gods  and  what  have  I  more !  "  Oh  let  us 
listen  to  the  better  voice  that  says,  "  Child,  My  kindness 
shall  not  depart  from  thee,  and  so  whatever  goes  thou  canst 
not  be  desolate." 

(3)  Then  this  same  thought  here  may  avail  to  give  to  us 
hopes  of  ourselves  immortal  as  itself.  We  do  not  belong 
to  the  mountains  and  the  hills  that  shall  depart,  and  to  the 
order  of  things  to  which  they  belong  ;  there  is  coming  a  very 
solemn  day,  when,  by  no  mere  process  of  natural  decay  as 
I  take  it,  but  by  the  action  of  God  Himself,  the  Judge,  that 
day  of  the  Lord  shall  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night,  the 
mountains  shall  depart  and  the  hills  be  removed,  and  the 
throne  of  judgment  shall  be  set,  and  you  and  I  will  be 
there.  Lay  your  hand  on  that  covenant  of  peace  which  is 
made  for  us  all  in  Christ  the  Lord. 

"  Herein  is  our  love  made  perfect,  that  we  may  have 
boldness  before  Him  in  the  day  of  judgment."  And,  if 
that  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  us,  and  God's  gentle 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  231 

tenderness  is  eternal  as  Himself,  then  we  shall  not  depart 
from  it  either,  and  we  are  immortal  as  the  tenderness  that 
encloses  us.  God's  endless  love  must  have  undying  crea- 
tures on  whom  to  pour  itself  out.  And  if  to-day  I  possess, 
as  you  all  may  possess,  in  however  feeble  a  measure,  some 
drops  and  prelibations  of  that  great  flood  of  love  that  is  in 
God,  I  can  look  unblenched  right  into  the  eye  of  death,  and 
say :  Thou  hast  no  power  at  all  over  me,  and  have  none 
over  this  body  of  mine  unless  it  is  given  thee  from  above. 
I  am  eternal  because  God  that  loves  me  is.  And  since  He 
hath  loved  me  with  an  everlasting  love,  and  His  loving 
kindness  shall  not  depart  from  me,  therefore,  seeing  that 
all  these  things  shall  be  dissolved,  I  have  a  building,  I 
know  that  I  have  a  house,  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in 
the  heavens  ;  and  because  He  lives  and  loves  I  shall  live 
also,  leaving  all  mortality  and  lifted  above  decay  and 
change.  The  hope  that  is  built  upon  the  eternal  love  of 
God  in  Christ  is  the  true  guarantee  to  me  of  immortal 
existence.  And  it  turns  upon  the  one  thing — Come  into 
the  covenant,  come  into  the  covenant,  the  covenant  of 
peace.  God  says  :  I  will  love  thee,  I  will  bless  thee,  I  will 
cure  thee,  I  will  save  thee,  I  will  purge  thee,  I  will  glorify 
thee,  and  there  is  My  bond  on  that  cross,  the  new  covenant 
of  Christ's  blood.  Come.  It  takes  two  to  make  a  covenant. 
God  offers,  do  you  close  with  the  offer,  and  then  life  and 
death  and  things  present  and  things  to  come  and  height 
and  depth  and  every  other  creature  shall  be  impotent  to 
separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord. 

A.  M. 

CXIII.  God's  Thoughts  and  Man's  Thoughts. 
Isa.  lv.  8.  "For  My  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,  neither 
are  your  ways  My  ways,  saith  the  Loi'd" 

"  THOU  thoughtest  that  I  was  altogether  such  an  one  as 
thyself."  Thus,  in  one  of  the  psalms,  is  God  represented 
as  speaking  to  the  wicked  ;  and  His  words  expose  the  root 
of  much  of  the  misapprehension  prevalent  among  men 
regarding  Him.  This  tendency  to  humanize  deity  is 
everywhere  apparent.  Now  for  this  characteristic  of  our 
nature  two  causes  may  be  assigned.     Man  being  originally 


232  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

created  in  God's  image,  has  some  lingering  consciousness 
of  that  primal  greatness  which  seeks  to  assert  itself  in  his 
disposition  to  think  of  God  as  such  an  one  as  himself. 
The  other  cause  lies  in  the  imperfection  of  our  language, 
which  is  primarily  adapted  to  external  things. 

Let  us  consider  the  differences  between  God's  ways  and 
thoughts,  and  man's. 

I.  God's  ways  and  thoughts  are  infinite,  while  men's 
are  limited.  In  God  we  have  the  telescopic  sweep  that 
takes  in  the  farthest  outlying  dependencies  of  space,  com- 
bined with  the  microscopic  exactness  that  brings  out  each 
minutest  existence.  His  thoughts,  instead  of  being  con- 
fined within  narrow  limits,  range  through  immensity.  His 
knowledge,  instead  of  being  fragmentary,  includes  a  perfect 
understanding  of  all  things.  Space  and  time  hem  us  in  so 
that  we  cannot  see  beyond  here  and  now.  This  knowledge 
of  God's  Infinity  should  reconcile  us  to  mysteries  in  revela- 
tion and  in  providence.  Mystery  is  imperfect  knowledge  ; 
and  the  more  a  man  knows,  he  comes  at  more  points  into 
contact  with  the  unknown. 

II.  God's  ways  and  thoughts  are  holy  ;  man's  are  pol- 
luted. There  can  be  no  happiness  for  man  until  he  is  in 
thorough  harmony  with  God.  Such  a  spiritual  revolution 
can  be  wrought  out  in  us  only  by  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

III.  God's  ways  and  thoughts  are  merciful;  man's  are 
suspicious  and  implacable.  This  ought  to  encourage  us 
to  return  in  penitence  to  God.  God's  assurances  of  mercy 
are  fully  to  be  trusted.  He  is  above  suspicion.  Trust 
him  even  in  this,  to  you,  incomprehensible  grace,  and 
return  to  Him  who,  over  the  cross  of  His  Son,  has  solemnly 
covenanted  "  to  receive  you  graciously  and  to  love  you 
freely." 

W.   M.  T. 

CXIV.  God's  Word.  Isa.1v.  io,  ii.  "For  as  the  rai?i 
cometh  down,  and  the  snow  from  heaven,  and  returneth  not 
thither,  but  watereth  the  earth,  and  maketh  it  bring  forth  and 
bud :  so  shall  My  word  be  that  goeth  forth  out  of  My  mouth  : 
it  shall  not  return  unto  Me  void." 

The  subject  before  us  is  the  success  and  efficiency  of  the 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


233 


Word  of  God.  The  comparison  between  the  government 
of  the  world  of  nature  and  the  world  of  grace  is  continually 
applied  in  the  Bible.  One  of  these  comparisons  is  set 
forth  in  our  text,  "  As  the  rain  cometh  down  ...  so 
shall  My  word  be."  God  sends  His  rain  with  a  certain 
specific  object  ;  till  that  is  accomplished  it  cannot  return. 
It  does  its  work  primarily  described  as  nourishing-  the 
grain  which  is  to  be  the  food  of  man.  Equally  certain  is 
the  object  and  result  of  His  sending  forth  His  Word. 

I.  Let  us  see  how  exactly  the  two  members  of  this 
comparison  correspond.  In  the  natural  world  the  rain 
and  the  snow  do  not  fall  in  an  equalled  and  measured 
manner,  adjusting  themselves  to  the  different  wants  of  the 
soil.  The  sandy  soil  still  thirsts,  when  the  deep  loam  is 
abundantly  satisfied,  or  the  rain,  perhaps,  expends  itself 
on  its  parent  ocean  ere  it  can  reach  the  crop  thirsting  for 
its  moisture.  This  is  the  way  in  which  the  Almighty  has 
dealt  with  this  world  as  respects  the  rain  and  the  snow. 
Will  He  deal  differently  with  what  He  sends  as  the  spiritual 
nourishment  of  our  souls  ?  We  discover  here,  just  as  with 
the  rain,  abundant  supplies  of  His  word  ;  vast  multitudes 
perishing  without  it,  there.  In  all  this  there  is  much 
perplexity.  We  cannot  comprehend  these  ways  of  God 
in  nature  and  in  grace  ;  but  we  can  discern  the  sameness 
of  the  hand,  and  recognise  the  identity  of  the  author. 
There  is,  after  all,  no  waste  in  that  rain  which  falls  so 
capriciously.  That  which  falls  on  the  ocean  but  aids  to 
preserve  the  balance  of  these  vast  reservoirs  which  from 
age  to  age  water  the  earth.  And  may  we  not  well  imagine 
that  there  is  no  waste  in  the  Word  of  God,  that  none  of 
it  is  lost  ? 

II.  The  responsibility  which  lies  upon  those  to  whom 
the  Word  of  God  comes.  There  should  be  the  solemn 
reflection,  this   Word  is   meant   to  be  the  fertilizer  of  my 

•soul.  It  is  intended  to  be  as  the  dew  of  heaven  there, 
causing  each  grace  to  flourish,  each  pure  and  holy  temper 
to  grow.  Blessed  are  those  to  whom  the  Word  thus 
comes. 

T.  P.  B. 


234  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

CXV.     The  Future.     Isa.  lvi.  12.     "To-morrow  shall  be  as 
this  day,  and  much  more  abwidatit." 

THESE  words,  as  they  stand,  are  the  call  of  boon  com- 
panions to  new  revelry.  They  are  part  of  the  prophet's 
picture  of  a  corrupt  age,  when  the  men  of  influence  and 
position  had  thrown  away  their  sense  of  duty,  and  had 
given  themselves  over,  as  aristocracies  and  plutocracies 
are  ever  tempted  to  do,  to  mere  luxury  and  good  living. 
They  are  summoning  one  another  to  their  coarse  orgies. 
The  roystering  spender  says,  "  Do  not  be  afraid  to -drink  : 
the  cellar  will  hold  out."  He  forgets  to-morrow's  head- 
aches ;  he  forgets  that  on  some  to-morrow  the  wine  will 
be  finished  ;  he  forgets  that  the  fingers  of  a  hand  may 
write  the  doom  of  the  rioters  on  the  very  walls  of  the 
banqueting  chamber. 

Like  a  great  many  other  sayings,  these  words  may  fit 
the  mouth  either  of  a  sot  or  of  a  saint.  All  depends  on 
what  the  things  are  which  we  are  thinking  about  when  we 
use  them.  There  are  things  about  which  it  is  absurd  and 
worse  than  absurd  to  say  this,  and  there  are  things  about 
which  it  is  the  soberest  truth  to  say  it. 

I.  This  expectation,  if  directed  to  any  outward  things, 
is  an  illusion  and  a  dream.  These  coarse  revellers,  into 
whose  lips  the  text  is  put,  only  meant  by  it  to  brave  the 
future  and  defy  to-morrow  in  the  riot  of  their  drunkenness. 
They  show  us  the  vulgarest,  lowest  form  which  the  ex- 
pectation can  take.  We  may  note  this  fact,  that  to  look 
forward  principally  to  anticipate  pleasure  or  enjoyment 
is  a  very  poor  and  unworthy  thing.  It  is  weakening  and 
lowering  every  way,  to  use  our  faculty  of  hope  mainly  to 
paint  the  future  as  a  scene  of  delights  and  satisfactions. 
It  is  base  and  foolish  to  be  forecasting  our  pleasures,  the 
true  temper  is  to  be  forecasting  our  work.  Let  us  notice 
how  useless  such  anticipation,  and  how  mad  such  con- 
fidence as  that  expressed  in  the  text  is,  if  directed  to 
anything  short  of  God. 

We  are  so  constituted,  as  that  we  grow  into  a  persuasion 
that  what  has  been,  will  be  ;  and  yet  we  can  give  no 
sufficient  reason  to  ourselves  of  why  we  expect  it.  "  The 
uniformity  of  the  course  of  nature  "  is  the  corner-stone  not 
only  of  physical  science,  but  in  a  more  homely  form  of  the 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  235 


wisdom  which  grows  with  experience.  We  all  believe  that 
the  sun  will  rise  to-morrow  because  it  rose  to-day  and  for 
all  the  yesterdays.  But  there  was  a  to-day  which  had  no 
yesterday,  and  there  will  be  a  to-day  which  will  have  no 
to-morrow.  The  uniformity  had  a  beginning  and  will  have 
an  end.  So  this  axiom  of  thought  seems  to  rest  on  an 
insufficient  basis.  How  much  more  so,  as  to  our  own  little 
lives  and  their  surroundings  !  There  the  only  thing  which 
we  may  be  quite  sure  of  about  to-morrow  is,  that  it  will 
not  be  "  as  this  day."  It  may  be  said  of  each  step  of  our 
journey,  u  Ye  have  not  passed  this  way  heretofore." 

We  know  that  these  breathing-times  when  "  we  have  no 
changes,"  are  but  pauses  in  the  storm,  landing-places  in 
the  ascent,  the  interspaces  between  the  shocks.  The  least 
serious  spirit,  in  its  most  joyous  moods,  never  quite  suc- 
ceeds in  forgetting  the  solemn  probabilities,  possibilities, 
and  certainties  that  lodge  in  the  unknown  future.  There 
is  ever  something  of  dread  in  Hope's  blue  eyes. 

II.  There  is  a  possibility  of  so  using  the  words  as  to 
make  them  the  utterance  of  a  sober  certainty  which  will 
not  be  put  to  shame.  When  we  turn  our  hope  away  from 
earth  to  God,  and  fill  the  future  with  the  light  of  His 
presence  and  the  certainty  of  His  truth,  the  mists  and 
doubts  roll  away,  the  future  is  as  certain  as  the  past,  and 
hope  as  assured  of  its  facts  as  memory. 

(1)  We  have  an  unchanging  and  an  inexhaustible  God 
and  He  is  the  true  guarantee  of  the  future  for  us.  To- 
day's wealth  may  be  to-morrow's  poverty,  to-day's  health 
to-morrow's  sickness,  to-day's  happy  companionship  of 
love  to  morrow's  aching  solitude  of  heart ;  but  to-day's 
God  will  be  to-morrow's  God,  to-day's  Christ  will  be 
to-morrow's  Christ. 

If  only  our  hearts  be  fixed  on  God  and  we  are  feeding 
our  minds  and  wills  on  Him,  His  truth,  and  His  will,  then 
we  may  be  quite  certain  that  whatever  goes,  our  truest 
riches  will  abide. 

(2)  The  past  is  the  mirror  of  the  future  for  the  Christian  : 
we  look  back  on  all  the  great  deeds  of  old  by  which  God  has 
redeemed  and  helped  souls  that  cried  to  Him,  and  we  find 
in  them  the  eternal  laws  of  His  working.  They  are  all  true 
for  to-day  as  they  wrere  at  first  ;  they  remain  true  for  ever. 

(3)  Not  only  docs  the  record  of  what   He  has  been  to 


236  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

others  come  in  to  bring  material  for  our  forecast  of  the 
future,  but  also  the  remembrance  of  what  He  has  been  to 
ourselves.  Has  he  been  with  us  in  six  troubles  ?  We 
may  be  sure  He  will  not  abandon  us  at  the  seventh.  He 
is  not  in  the  way  of  beginning  to  build  and  leaving  His 
work  unfinished.  Feed  your  certain  hopes  for  to-morrow 
on  thankful  remembrances  of  many  a  yesterday. 

III.  These  words  may  be  taken  as  the  vow  of  a  firm 
and  lowly  resolve.  There  is  a  future  which  we  can  but 
very  slightly  influence,  and  the  less  we  look  at  that  the 
better  every  way.  But  there  is  also  a  future  which  we  can 
mould  as  we  wish — the  future  of  our  own  characters,  the 
only  future  which  is  really  ours  at  all— and  the  more  clearly 
we  set  it  before  ourselves  and  make  up  our  minds  as  to 
whither  we  wish  to  be  tending,  the  better. 

In  that  region  it  is  eminently  true,  that  "to-morrow 
shall  be  as  this  day  and  much  more  abundant."  The  law 
of  continuity  shapes  our  moral  and  spiritual  characters. 
What  I  am  to-day  I  shall  increasingly  be  to-morrow.  The 
awful  power  of  habit  solidifies  actions  into-  customs  and 
prolongs  the  reverberation  of  every  note  once  sounded 
along  the  vaulted  roof  of  the  chamber  where  we  live. 
To-day  is  the  child  of  yesterday  and  the  parent  of  to- 
morrow. That  solemn  certainty  of  the  continuance  and 
increase  of  moral  and  spiritual  characteristics  works  in 
both  good  and  bad,  but  with  a  difference.  To  secure  its 
full  blessing  in  the  gradual  development  of  the  germs  of 
good,  there  must  be  constant  effort  and  tenacious  resolu- 
tion. If  we  trust  to  the  natural  laws  of  growth  and  neglect 
our  careful  tending,  we  may  sow  much  but  we  shall  gather 
little.  But  to  inherit  the  full  consequences  of  that  same 
law  working  in  the  growth  and  development  of  the  evil 
in  us,  nothing  is  needed  but  carelessness.  But  if  humbly 
we  resolve  and  earnestly  toil,  looking  for  His  help,  we  may 
venture  to  hope  that  our  characters  will  grow  in  goodness 
and  in  likeness  to  our  dear  Lord  ;  that  we  shall  not  cast 
away  our  confidence  nor  make  shipwreck  of  our  faith  ;  that 
each  new  day  shall  find  in  us  a  deeper  love,  a  perfecter 
consecration,  a  more  joyful  service,  and  that  so,  in  all  the 
beauties  of  the  Christian  soul,  and  in  all  the  blessings  of 
the  Christian  life,  "  to-morrow  shall  be  as  this  day,  and 
much  more  abundant." 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  237 


As  we  grow  in  fears  we  shall  grow  in  grace,  until  the 
day  comes  when  we  shall  exchange  earth  for  heaven. 
That  will  be  the  sublimest  application  of  the  text  when, 
dying,  we  can  calmly  be  sure  that  heaven's  to-morrow 
shall  be  as  earth's  to-day,  and  much  more  abundant 

A.  M. 


CXVI.     The    Dwelling-place   of    God.     IsA.hii.-15. 

"For  thus  saith  the  high  and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity, 
whose  name  is  holy :  I  dwell  in  the  high  and  holy  place,  with 
him  also  that  is  of  a  contrite  and  humble  spirit,  to  revive  the 
spirit  of  the  humble,  and  to  revive  the  heart  of  the  co  fit  rite 

ones.'" 

THERE  are  two  very  different  aspects  under  which  God 
may  be  thought  of  or  spoken  of  by  us.  Sometimes  we 
think  of  Him  as  the  mighty  Maker  of  all  the  things  we 
see,  a  supreme  Being  of  immeasurable  strength  and  intel- 
ligence. Sometimes,  on  the  other  hand,  our  hearts  turn  to 
Him  as  a  most  kind  and  pitiful  Father,  who  will  hear  when 
He  is  spoken  to,  and  who  makes  Himself  the  friend  and 
helper  of  feeble  and  sinful  men.  The  one  is  the  intellectual 
result  of  man's  speculations  about  God,  the  other  is  the 
God  specially  as  self-revealed  in  the  Gospel  and  appre- 
hended by  the  human  heart. 

Now  both  of  these  views  are  true,  and  though  it  is  diffi- 
cult for  the  mind  at  present  to  harmonize  them  in  one  act 
of  thought,  yet  each  of  them  must  exert  its  due  influence 
upon  us  if  we  are  to  attain  a  just  or  adequate  attitude  of 
soul  towards  the  Almighty  Father  in  heaven.  To  separate 
these  two  views  so  as  to  give  unequal  prominence  to  either 
of  them,  is  to  fall  into  a  serious  practical  mistake,  and  the 
history  of  religion  is  full  of  the  blunders  which  have  arisen 
simply  from  pressing  either  aspect  of  the  Divine  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  other. 

At  present  we  are  suffering  from  our  exclusive  devotion, 
in  many  quarters,  to  the  divinity  of  the  schools.  With 
such  an  idea  of  God  as  philosophy  can  frame,  the  world  as 
it  is  will  not  come  into  intellectual  harmony.  The  more 
difficult  facts  of  human  history,  especially  the  fact  of  sin, 
cannot  be  got  to  square  with  the  philosophical  conception 


238  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

of  God.  There  is  an  intellectual  irreconcilableness  betwixt 
an  absolute  God  and  absolute  evil.  If  sin  be  abso- 
lutely evil,  such  that  no  conceivable  balance  of  resultant 
good  can  be  the  least  equivalent  for  it,  then  the  philo- 
sophical thesis  that  whatever  is,  is  best,  becomes  simply 
unthinkable.  Hence  the  constant  temptation  under  which 
philosophy  lies  to  under-estimate  sin — to  do  so  for  the 
sake  of  harmonising  the  world  with  its  ideal  divinity. 

Christianity  need  be  under  no  such  temptation  to  mini- 
mise the  evil  of  sin,  because  its  conception  of  God  is  not 
exclusively  the  philosophical  one.  Neither  is  it  bound  to 
construct  a  theory  of  optimism.  It  is  because  something 
is  which  is  not  right,  that  the  whole  Christian  scheme 
exists.  Perverted  human  wills  do  love  and  elect  to  do 
that  which  is  wrong,  wholly  and  immeasurably  wrong  ; 
and  no  results  you  can  show  to  follow  from  sin,  be  they 
what  they  may,  can  make  the  sin  one  jot  less  evil. 

It  is  characteristic  of  all  revelation  that  in  this  text  the 
self-manifestation  of  God  within  human  hearts,  His  mani- 
festation to  us  under  His  human  aspects,  is  represented 
to  be  an  act  of  self-humbling  or  of  condescension.  God 
has,  so  to  speak,  two  temple  palaces,  two  sacred  abodes, 
which  He  deigns  to  fill  with  a  special  manifestation  of 
Himself,  making  known  in  each  a  divine  side  of  His  mar- 
vellous being.  The  one  is  His  celestial  residence,  the 
palace  home  beyond  the  firmament,  "  the  high  and  holy 
place,"  the  seat  of  Him  who  is  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord 
of  Lords.  The  other  is  the  sacred  house  of  the  hearts  of 
the  contrite.  It  is  the  veiled,  familiar,  human-like  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus,  who  alone  can  revive,  by  inhabiting 
them,  the  hearts  of  the  contrite  ones,  else  should  the  spirit 
fail  before  Him  and  the  soul  which  He  hath  made.  The 
conditions  under  which  God  alone  makes  Himself  known 
to  man  are  moral  conditions,  conditions  of  heart  and  spirit. 
In  the  choice  language  of  this  verse,  what  may  be  called 
the  natural  distance  of  God  from,  us  is  measured  both  on 
its  physical  and  on  its  moral  side.  He  is  "  high  " — as  the 
Maker,  Master,  Owner,  Orderer  of  men,  Jehovah  inhabits 
the  "  lofty  place  !  " 

But  there  is  also  the  distance  of  holiness  frcm  evil.  He 
is  "holy,"  and  betwixt  the  Holy  One  in  His  holy  place 
and  us  in  our  sin,  the  gulf  is  not  a  gulf  of  being,  but  a  gulf 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  239 


of  character.  There  is  not  a  word  here  to  hint  that  the 
first  creates  the  least  difficulty  in  His  stooping  to  deal 
with  us.  The  real  difficulty  is  the  moral  one.  There  is 
nothing  save  sin  which  can  hinder  God  from  dwelling  with 
any  man.  Moral  fellowship  is  practicable  only  on  the 
ground  of  moral  affinity ;  and  the  beginning  of  moral 
affinity  of  man  with  God  lies  in  the  moral  state  described, 
a  contrite  and  humble  spirit. 

It  is  a  very  reviving  advent  when  to  such  a  soul  God 
comes  to  dwell.  God  is  attracted  by  the  crushed  humility 
of  the  sinner  who  cannot  do  without  Him.  This  is  the 
attraction  that  drew  Him  once  from  heaven.  It  is  strong 
enough  to  draw  Him,  with  the  same  fatherly  compassion, 
into  every  broken  heart  ;  and  when  He  comes  to  take  up 
His  resting-place  within  the  spirit  of  the  penitent,  to  turn 
that  into  His  earthly  temple.  It  is  in  His  own  wondrous 
lowliness  that  He  comes.  He  comes  as  He  came  at  Beth- 
lehem, showing  all  the  tenderness  and  the  sweetness  and 
the  graciousness  of  His  nature.  Like  comes  to  like.  See 
how  the  lowly  comes  unto  the  lowly.  Even  so  make  us 
contrite,  Lord  ;  even  so  to  us  come  near,  Lord  Jesus  ! 

J.  O.  D. 


CXVII.  The  Year  of  Jubilee.  Isa.  lxi.  1.  u  The  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  God  is  upon  me ;  because  the  Lord  hath  anointed 
me  to  preach  good  tidings  unto  the  meek :  He  hath  sent  me  to 
bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives, 
and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound P 

THE  allusion  in  these  words  is  to  the  Jewish  year  of  Jubilee. 
The  evangelical  sense  of  the  term  is  confirmed  by  the  fact 
that  when  the  Saviour  preached  in  the  synagogue  this  was 
His  text,  and  He  announced  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy 
from  the  advent  of  the  Gospel  dispensation.  There  are 
many  analogies  between  the  year  of  Jubilee  which  rejoiced 
the  hearts  of  Israel,  and  that  more  comprehensive  era  which 
was  to  bring  gladness  to  all  people. 

I.  The  Jewish  jubilee  commenced  at  the  close  of  the  day 
of  atonement.  This  is  a  true  type  of  the  way  in  which 
spiritual  blessings  are  exclusively  introduced  to  mankind. 
There  could  be  no  jubilee  for  us,  a  race  of  lost  and  guilty 


240  OUTLINES   ON   THE 


sinners,  unless  an  all-prevalent  atonement  had  previously- 
purchased  our  pardon.  Peace  and  hope  and  joy  for  reno- 
vated man  can  come  in  happy  jubilee  only  from  the  atone- 
ment of  Christ.  Because  of  His  death  there  is  proclaimed 
in  all  the  world  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord. 

II.  The  jubilee  brought  rest  from  exhausting  labour. 
In  a  spiritual  sense,  is  not  rest  for  the  weary  just  what  we 
want  ?  The  Saviour's  most  gracious  invitation,  addressed 
to  a  world  of  the  heavy  laden,  contains  within  it  a  promise 
of  rest. 

III.  The  Jewish  jubilee  brought  the  restoration  of  alien- 
ated property.  We  alienated  our  inheritance  by  sin.  God's 
favour  was  turned  away,  God's  fellowship  was  interrupted, 
God's  image  was  defaced.  Christ  has  rescued  this  forfeited 
inheritance,  and  will  not  refuse  to  enrich  any  man  who 
comes  to  Him. 

IV.  The  Jewish  jubilee  brought  freedom  to  the  slave. 
Christ  has  come  to  bring  liberty  to  the  captives.  From  the 
strongest  chains  Christ  can  deliver.  "  If  the  Son  make  you 
free,  ye  shall  be  free  indeed." 

Are  you  going  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  the  Gospel  trum- 
pet ?  or  are  you  shutting  your  ears  ? 

W.  M.  P. 


CXVIII.  Our  Father.  Isa.  lxiii.  16.  "  Doubtless  Thou  art 
our  Father,  though  Abraham  be  ignorant  of  us,  and  Israel 
acknowledge  us  not :  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  our  Father,  our 
Redee7ner :  Thy  na?ne  is  from  everlasting" 

THESE  words  were  spoken  by  the  prophet  of  God,  in  the 
name  of  the  people  whose  sins  he  confessed,  whose  sorrows 
he  deplored,  and  whose  salvation  he  longed  for.  The  voice 
of  the  nation  went  forth  in  this  one  voice,  and  in  him 
there  was  a  nation;  in  a  man,  in  one  man,  all  Israel;  for 
he  was  inspired  to  pray  this  prayer  offered  here,  and  it 
was  used  by  those  who  had  faith,  when  the  captivity  came. 
If  these  words  could  be  used  by  Jews — if  they  could  use 
them,  how  much  more  Christians  can.  They  belong  not 
to  Jews  as  such.  They  are  the  language  of  faith,  and  faith 
is  of  no  country,  no  particular  language,  climate,  no  time, 
no  dispensation  more  than  another. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  24] 


I.  The  preface  of  this  declaration— "  Doubtless."  We 
lose  much  of  our  strength  by  giving  way  to  the  scepticism 
which  we  find  about  us.  I  say  before  I  utter  anything 
about  my  Father  in  heaven,  doubtless.  I  am  not  to  be 
sure  about  the  weather,  or  the  wind,  or  my  life,  or  my 
health,  or  even  about  things  which  men  take  as  types  and 
proverbs  of  certainty  ;  but  I  am  sure  of  one  thing,  that  God 
is  my  father.  This  is  not  the  language  of  mere  hope,  but 
of  fervent  conviction.  Some  things  are  open  to  question, 
but  this  is  not.  Some  things  are  matters  of  logic,  which 
we  may  doubt,  but  this  is  a  matter  of  revelation. 

II.  "  Our  Father."  This  brings  the  conclusion  that  God 
is  a  living  person.  There  are  different  kinds  of  atheism 
about  us.  There  is  the  atheism  of  carelessness.  There  are 
thousands  and  thousands  of  so-called  Christians  who  are 
in  reality  atheists.  There  is  an  atheism  abroad  tinctured 
with  devotion.  Some  of  our  writers  are  trying  to  divorce 
religion  from  God,  and  in  some  cases  they  actually  believe 
in  prayer.  We  say,  "  Our  Father"  ;  and  the  first  doctrine 
is  this,  that  God  is  a  person,  for  you  never  say  "Father" 
to  a  mist,  or  a  number,  or  a  thing.  Sure  as  the  Son  is  a 
person,  the  Father  is  also  a  person. 

These  words,  "Our  Father,"  are  words  that  may  be 
applied  to  God  as  the  Father  of  human  kind.  All  human 
life  began  in  God  :  we  are  His  offspring.  When  God's  sons 
and  daughters  go  wrong,  does  He  care  less  than  you  do 
when  your  children  go  astray  ? 

Again,  we  have  found  that  He  is  our  Father  through 
Jesus  Christ.  In  the  third  chapter  of  John,  Jesus  gives  His 
first  discourse  about  salvation,  and  tells  us  that  we  must  be 
born  again.  Through  Jesus  we  have  new  life — born  in  the 
first  moment  of  true  faith  in  Him.  So  being  filled  with 
faith  and  love,  we  can  say,  "  Our  Father,"  and  with  un- 
wavering tongue.  If  we  refuse  this  gift  of  Christ,  not  all 
the  love  of  God  can  change  us. 

The  Father  never  changes.  The  sun  does  not  always 
rise  with  equal  clearness,  the  dews  do  not  always  glisten, 
the  river  does  not  always  gleam  in  splendour,  but  He  is 
the  Lord,  He  changes  not. 

III.  The  suggestion  used  to  enforce  the  declaration  : 
"Though  Abraham  be  ignorant  of  us,  and  Israel  acknow- 
ledge us  not,  Thou,  O  Lord,  art  our  Father."     The  essence 

R 


242  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

of  this  is,  "Thou  art  our  Father,"  though  our  earthly  parents 
be  ignorant  of  us  and  acknowledge  us  not.  For  instance,  in 
consequence  of  death.  The  speakers  were  proud  of  having 
Abraham  for  their  father  ;  but  he  had  long  been  dead. 
The  time  may  come  when  our  earthly  parents  may  be 
ignorant  of  us  by  death.  Though  such  changes  come, 
though  hearts  grow  still  and  eyes  dim  of  those  who  love 
us  best,  we  can  say,  "  Doubtless,  Thou  art  our  Father." 

Sometimes,  through  infirmity  or  age,  our  parents  may 
acknowledge  us  not.  There  was  a  time  when  David  had 
keen  eyes,  that  if  a  child  had  cried  in  the  wilderness  to 
him  he  could  have  saved  that  child  ;  but  forty  years  after, 
when  the  life  had  gone  out  of  the  eyes,  and  the  lissomeness 
out  of  the  limbs,  he  could  not.  But  we  can  turn  our  eyes 
heavenwards,  and  say,  "  Doubtless,  Thou  art  our  Father  ; 
Thy  years  shall  not  fail." 

Earthly  parents  may  not  be  able  to  acknowledge  us  by 
circumstances  of  distance.  For  instance,  Joseph  might  cry, 
"  Father,"  in  the  pit  in  vain.  Once  in  the  American  war 
there  was  a  general  galloping  at  the  head  of  his  soldiers, 
and  he  had  to  pass  his  only  son  dying  by  the  roadside  ;  he 
could  not  help  him.  But  whatever  the  helplessness  of  our 
dearest  friends,  God  can  help  us. 

Sometimes  our  earthly  fathers  cannot  help  us  because 
they  are  reduced  in  circumstances.  I  have  heard  of  a  son 
coming  back  to  the  place  where  he  was  brought  up,  and 
finding  the  dear  old  garden  trampled  down  by  careless  feet, 
and  rough  men  handling  furniture  which  was  being  sold. 
But  all  things  are  ours  because  God  is  ours. 

We  must  turn  this  to  practical  account  by  praying.  I 
want  you  to  say,  "  Doubtless,"  and  to  pray.  This  is  the 
first  use  we  must  make  of  the  fact  that  God  is  our  Father. 

A  Mussulman  when  travelling  was  joined  by  a  Hindoo, 
and  the  two  marched  on  together  till  darkness  overtook 
them.  Passing  the  night  together,  they  resumed  the  jour- 
ney in  the  morning  and  travelled  all  day,  and  again  sought 
shelter  for  the  night.  The  Hindoo,  as  was  his  custom,  said 
his  prayers  and  rested,  and  in  the  morning  rose  again  and 
prayed .  once  more  and  prepared  to  start.  But  he  had 
not  seen  the  Mussulman  pray,  and  he  wondered  greatly. 
He  watched  for  the  third  night  to  see  if  his  companion 
would  pray,  but  he  neither  saw  nor  heard  anything  of  the 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  243 

Mussulman's  prayers.  And  at  last  he  said,  "  Mussulman, 
do  you  not  pray  ? "  His  companion  replied,  "  Yes  ;  it  is 
binding  on  us  to  pray  five  times  in  the  day."  "  Well,"  said 
the  Hindoo,  "what  sort  of  a  Mussulman  are  you?  I  have 
not  seen  you  pray  for  three  days."  "  I  am  marching  all 
day,"  said  the  Mussulman,  "and  when  we  stop  I  am  so 
tired  that  I  cannot  pray."  Then  the  Hindoo  said,  *'Are 
you  too  tired  to  travel  ?  are  you  too  tired  to  take  food  ? 
are  you  too  tired  to  speak  to  me  ?  are  you  too  tired  to 
live?" 

You  understand  and  feel  the  point  of  this,  you  have  such 
a  Father.  If  at  times  you  are  tired — and  you  will  be  if  you 
are  to  be  of  any  good  in  the  world — cast  yourself  on  God 
through  Christ,  and  through  the  depths  of  your  heart  pray 
to  your  Father,  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life. 

C,  S. 


CXIX.     The  Way  to  Zion.     Jer.  i.  5.     "  They  shall  ask 
the  way  to  Zion  with  their  faces  thitherward.'' 

The  Israelites  are  seen  by  the  eyes  of  God's  prophet  re- 
turning from  a  seventy  years'  exile,  casting  off  their  chains, 
and  seriously  asking  their  way  home  to  Zion  with  their 
faces  set  thitherward.  They  are  described  in  the  context 
as  "going  and  weeping."  God  has  poured  upon  them 
"  the  spirit  of  grace  and  supplication,"  and  its  first  effect 
is  that  "  they  look  upon  Him  whom  they  have  pierced,  and 
mourn."  The  text  suggests  another  thought,  "  They  have 
been  as  lost  sheep."  The  next  verse  says,  "  They  have  gone 
from  mountain  to  hill,  they  have  forgotten  their  resting- 
place."  Once  they  lived  there  :  it  was  their  home  ;  now 
for  their  sin  they  are  banished,  they  have  to  ask  the  way 
to  Zicn. 

Those  who  would  make  their  future  different  from  the 
past  must  cultivate  two  things. 

I.  The  spirit  of  inquiry.  Like  these  Israelites,  we 
have  been  going  "  from  mountain  to  hill,"  till  we  have 
forgotten  our  resting-place.  There  is  but  one  resting- 
place  for  the  creature— the  love  of  God  revealed  in  Jesus, 
apprehended  by  the  soul,  fled  to,  trusted  to.  There  is 
always  something    beautiful  in   the  spirit    of  inquiry,    but 


244  OUTLINES   ON  THE 


of  all  inquiries  the  way  to  Zion  is  first.  We  all  believe 
in  a  hereafter,  in  a  heaven  ;  the  way  to  it  is  our  question. 
The  desire  of  every  earnest  soul  must  be  to  endeavour  to 
anticipate  the  heavenly  life — to  live  now  in  the  life  of  God, 
to  see  Him  now  by  faith,  to  follow  Him  now  whithersoever, 
by  His  prophets,  by  His  Word,  by  His  Spirit,  by  the  ex- 
ample of  Christ,  He  leads.     This  is  the  way  to  Zion. 

II.  A  spirit  of  determination.  They  who  "ask  the  way 
to  Zion,"  must  have  their  faces  thitherward.  There  is  an 
inquiry  about  the  way  which  is  all  speculation.  There 
may  even  be  a  questioning  about  the  way  to  Zion,  with 
the  back  turned  upon  it.  This  is  the  case  of  inquirers  who 
will  keep  some  idol  in  their  heart.  This  is  the  case  of 
those  who  are  only  talking  and  not  doing.  Let  each  in- 
quiry be  a  determination.  Oh  to  think  of  asking  the  way, 
and  then  not  taking  it.  The  way  to  Zion  is  not  intricate  to 
the  honest  seeker.  It  lies  very  straight,  though  seldom 
smooth,  before  him  who  will  enter  by  the  Door. 

C.  J.  V. 


CXX.  Battlements.  Jer.  v.  io.  "Go  ye  up  upon 
her  walls,  and  destroy  ;  but  make  not  a  full  end :  take  away 
her  battlements ;  for  they  are  not  the  Lord's." 

We  are  impressed  with  the  enormous  impieties  of  Sodom, 
because  that  if  there  had  been  ten  righteous  found  within, 
it  would  have  been  saved  from  the  sulphur  and  the  flame. 
But  how  deeply  then  must  Jerusalem  have  transgressed, 
when  the  pardon  was  suspended  not  upon  ten,  but  upon 
one.  "  If  I  can  find  but  one  man,  if  there  be  any  that 
executeth  judgment,  that  seeketh  the  truth  ;  and  I  will 
pardon  it."  No  wonder  that  a  circumstance  like  this — this 
terrible  depravity  of  the  Jewish  nation — should  be  to  the 
patriot  heart  of  the  prophet  an  occasion  of  deepest  sorrow. 
I.  There  is  implied  in  the  words  of  the  text  the  con- 
sciousness of  danger.  Battlements  are  erected  for  de- 
fence. In  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  world  you  will  find 
indications  of  distrust  and  danger.  Men  agitated  by  the 
enigmas  of  existence,  conscience  apprehensive  of  horrors  of 
whose  existence  it  can  hardly  conceive,  hearts  failing  them 
for  fear,   because  of  the  destinies   that  are  future  and  un- 


OLD    TESTAMEXT.  245 


known.  From  this  consciousness  of  danger  you  must  find 
a  refuge.  Every  one  of  us  has  got  some  tower,  some 
battlements  of  real  or  fancied  security  in  which  we  trust. 

II.  What  are  your  battlements  of  defence?  Are  they 
your  own  or  the  Lord's  ?  If  they  are  your  own  battlements, 
then  they  are  no  sure  defence  in  the  hour  of  the  battle  and 
storm. 

(1)  Some  make  a  battlement  of  denying  the  active 
government  of  God.  He  is  no  active  governor  now  ;  He 
has  retired  into  His  pavilion,  and  if  He  knows  the  world 
at  all  He  only  knows  it  in  some  crisis  of  its  history.  There 
is  no  safety  in  this  battlement.     Come  out  of  it. 

(2)  Some  rest  in  mistaken  notions  of  the  Fatherhood  of 
God.  Some  of  man's  worst  disasters  and  errors  have  been 
born  out  of  the  sources  of  his  richest  hopes.  To  those  who 
have  a  right  to  appropriate  the  Fatherhood  of  God  there 
is  nothing  so  delightful  ;  but  remember  that  God  is  only  a 
Father  to  those  who  are  in  Christ. 

(3)  Some  rest  on  mistaken  notions  of  their  own  character 
and  excellency. 

III.  The  unassailable  and  perfect  defence  of  those  who 
trust  in  Jesus.  As  the  mountains  are  round  about  Jerusa- 
lem, so  the  Lord  is  round  about  His  people. 

\V.  M.  P. 

CXXI.     Balm    in    Gilead.     Jer.   viii.  22.     "Is  there  no 
balm  in  Gilead;  is  there  no  ph  Why  then  is 

not  the  health  of  the  da 

THE  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  has  been  termed  one  long 
lamentation.  His  heart  mourned  over  the  results  of  the 
Chaldean  invasion  ;  but  he  had  a  deeper  grief  than  even 
the  national  prostration  and  dishonour  of  his  fatherland. 
The  people  had  relapsed  into  idolatry.  False  prophets, 
who  delivered  lying  messages  and  prophesied  smooth 
things,  abounded  on  every  hand,  and  Jeremiah  seemed  to 
stand  in  single-handed  witness  to  testify  for  the  Lord  of 
Hosts.  c<  For  the  hurt  of  the  daughter  of  my  people  I  am 
hurt  ;  I  am  black  ;  astonishment  hath  taken  hold  on  me. 
Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead  ?  " 

Let  us  apply  these  plaintive  and  solicitous  words  to  our- 
selves. 


246  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

I.  The  fact  of  disease.  The  spiritual  malady  under 
which  all  mankind  are  groaning,  is  represented  in  the  Bible 
as  making  the  whole  head  sick  and  the  whole  heart  faint. 
The  question  of  spiritual  health,  or  sickness,  becomes  a 
question  of  immense  importance,  viewed  in  connection  with 
the  eternal  duration  of  man's  being.  This  malady  was 
born  with  you,  it  has  grown  with  your  growth,  and  if  you 
have  not  personally  realized  the  transformation  of  the 
gospel,  the  leprosy  hangs  about  you  still.  The  cradled 
death  is  in  your  veins,  and  you  are  not  shut  up  as  other 
lepers  are,  just  because  everybody  is  a  leper  around  you. 

II.  Seeing  the  disease,  the  question  comes  now  to  be 
asked,  "  Why  is  not  the  health  of  the  daughter  of  my 
people  recovered  ? "  It  is  not  because  there  is  no  cure. 
There  is  balm  in  Gilead  ;  there  is  a  dexterous  and  infallible 
physician  there.  If  there  be  an  infallible  specific  and  a 
skilful  physician,  and  if  still  the  people  die,  the  fault  must 
be  in  themselves. 

(i)  There  are  many  amongst  us  who  will  not  admit 
themselves  ill. 

(2)  There  are  men  who  will  acknowledge  themselves 
guilty  and  diseased  but  seek  elsewhere  for  the  remedy.  In 
the  cure  of  the  soul's  ailment  there  is  but  one  balm  and 
one  Physician. 

(3)  There  is  another  class  who  feel  their  danger,  who 
come  to  the  remedy,  but  who  do  not  obey  the  prescriptions 
which  the  Physician  has  given.  They  are  not  far  from  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  but  nevertheless  they  are  not  in  it. 

The  invitation  is  free  to  all — without  money  and  without 
price.     Come  to  the  Physician  that  you  may  live. 

W.  M.  P. 


CXXII.      The     Swelling     of    Jordan.      Jer.   xii.    5. 
"How  wilt  tJiou  do  in  the  swelling  oj  Jordan  ?  " 

The  lesson  to  be  enforced  here  is  the  fact  that  without 
Christianity,  great  spaces  of  our  life  are  wholly  unprovided 
for. 

In  laying  down  this  proposition  we  are  sustained  by  the 
observation  and  experience  of  common  life.  I  promise 
you  that  if  you  build  your  house  you  will  have  for  three 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  247 


hundred  and  sixty  days  in  the  year  the  gentlest  wind, 
cloudless  skies,  soft  rains.  But  the  other  five  days  of  the 
year  will  present  a  very  striking  contrast  to  these  halcyon 
days.  They  will  be  full  of  tempest,  and  the  great  thunder- 
clouds will  shut  out  the  sun.  Having  thus  forecast  the 
year,  for  which  portion  of  it  will  you  build  the  house  ?  For 
the  five  tempestuous  days  ?  You  are  right.  But  do  not 
be  a  philosopher  in  logic  and  a  fool  in  religion  ;  be  honest, 
self-consistent,  face  the  consequences  of  your  own  premisses. 

The  Gospel  comes  and  says,  "  I  only  " — voice  of  God, 
word  of  Heaven — "  I  only  can  wrap  myself  round  the 
whole  compass  of  your  life,  touch  every  point  of  necessity, 
and  take  care  of  you  in  mortal  crises,  in  final  distresses. 
Surely  a  Gospel  coming  with  such  a  message  has  the  upper 
hand  of  the  strongest  reasoner,  and  only  requires  the  moral 
consent  of  the  most  obdurate  antagonist. 

Look  for  a  moment  at  the  kind  of  life  that  is  to  be  pro- 
vided for.  Life  is  but  a  vapour  that  appeareth  for  a  little 
time  and  then  vanisheth  away.  Put  into  it  what  sunshine 
you  may,  you  do  but  add  the  possibility  at  least  of  propor- 
tionate shadow.  Beautiful  is  the  garden,  and  quiet  the 
nest  in  which  your  life  keeps  itself  warm,  but  the  last  wind 
kills  the  blossoms,  and  the  tempest  breaks  the  very  branch 
on  which  your  nest  was  built.  Then  you  need  a  religion 
that  stretches  its  blessed  ministry  around  the  whole  com- 
pass of  this  existence,  leaving  no  part  without  provision, 
descending  upon  youth  like  morning  dew,  accompanying 
middle  life  like  a  strong  guardian,  and  comforting  old  age 
like  a  prophet. 

There  will  come  a  day  when  learning  will  say,  "  Here  we 
must  part  ;  I  dare  not  go  into  the  morrow  that  is  coming 
upon  your  life.  This  poor  little  candlelight  of  mine  would 
be  blown  out."  There  comes  a  time  in  life  when  pleasure 
says  to  you,  "  This  is  the  last  cup  ;  drain  it  and  let  me  go." 

Let  us  now  make  one  or  two  practical  inquiries.  What 
will  you  do  in  the  day  of  uncontrollable  trouble  ?  What 
provision  have  you  made  for  its  coming  ?  Into  these 
regions  nothing  but  the  religion  of  Jesus  can  accompany 
you.  What  is  true  of  great  sorrows  is  equally  true  of  great 
joys.  If  not  balanced,  and  even  chastened,  joy  will  over- 
drive and  overtax  the  soul,  and  turn  itself  into  delirium. 
If  your  joy  is  to  be  continued  and  to  be  healthy,  it  must 


248  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

be  connected  with  infinite  lines.  It  is  in  Christ  we  find  joy 
unspeakable  ;  it  is  at  God's  right  hand  there  are  pleasures 
for  evermore  ;  it  is  in  the  sanctuary  that  light  is  added 
to  light,  until  the  glory  becomes  intense  ;  it  is  in  the  holy 
place  that  the  vision  is  strengthened  to  bear  the  ever- 
augmenting  light.  The  joys  will  slay  thee  if  they  be  not 
joys  from  Christ. 

Christ  meets  the  whole  life  ;  Christ  goes  everywhere  ; 
Christ  walks  upon  the  waters  ;  Christ  goes  into  the  desert ; 
Christ  brings  the  last  loaf  and  makes  it  a  feast  ;  Christ 
turns  the  water  into  wine.  Now,  "  How  will  you  do  in  the 
swelling  of  Jordan  !  " 

J.  P. 

CXXIII.      A    Divine    Appeal.     Jer.  xliv.  4.      "  Oh,  do 
not  this  abomi?iable  thing  that  I  hate." 

The  purport  of  the  whole  word  of  God  may  be  compressed 
into  this  fervent  appeal.  Was  there  ever  a  more  touching 
expostulation  than  this  ?  Jehovah  here  appeals  to  men 
with  all  the  infinite  love  of  the  Divine  nature,  and  begs 
them  not  to  do  that  which  He  detests. 

With  love,  for  though  the  term  hate  is  used,  observe  that 
it  does  not  describe  hatred  of  the  persons,  but  of  the  evil 
which  they  mean  to  commit.  How  wonderful  this  conde- 
scension and  this  love ! 

The  text  contains  a  statement  and  an  appeal : 

I.  The  statement  that  sin  is  that  abominable  thing  which 
God  hates.  The  language  is  very  strong,  and  might,  at 
first  sight,  appear  inconsistent  with  the  declaration  that 
God  is  love.  But  a  moment's  reflection  convinces  us  that 
the  love  of  one  thing  is  the  hatred  of  its  opposite  ;  and 
when  it  is  declared  that  God  loves  righteousness,  that  is 
only  another  way  of  asserting  that  he  hates  iniquity.  He 
is  love  to  all  holiness,  but  just  because  He  is  so,  He  is  all 
hatred  to  sin.  Let  us  notice  some  of  the  grounds  on  which 
God's  hatred  of  sin  rests. 

(1)  Because  it  is  a  contempt  of  His  authority  and  a 
defiance  of  His  law. 

If  the  sinner  had  his  will  there  would  be  no  God.  That 
is  the  unuttered  wish  of  his  heart  and  that  is  the  tendency 
of  his  conduct. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  249 

(2)  Because  it  runs  contrary  to  His  whole  nature.  God 
is  the  impersonation  of  the  law,  and  therefore  disobedience 
to  it  is  not  a  mere  legal  offence  against  an  abstract  statute, 
but  it  is  personal  animosity  and  antipathy  to  Himself. 

(3)  God  hates  sin,  because  of  the  consequences  which 
follow  in  its  train.  It  has  come  in  to  mar  the  happiness 
and  derange  the  order  of  the  moral  universe  ;  and  to  a 
Being  whose  name  and  whose  nature  is  love,  that  which 
has  been  the  cause  of  such  misery  to  the  human  race  must 
be  the  object  of  intensest  loathing.  It  has  blighted 
men's  hearts,  and  blasted  their  lives,  and  seared  their  con- 
sciences, and  contrasting  them,  sinful  as  they  are,  with 
what,  sinless,  they  might  have  been,  we  cannot  wonder 
that  God  should  call  iniquity  "  that  abominable  thing  that 
I  hate." 

II.  The  appeal  contained  in  the  text,  "Oh,  do  not  this 
abominable  thing." 

It  is  not  only  by  words  that  God  seeks  to  dissuade  us 
from  following  after  sin.  The  expostulation  of  my  text  is 
made  by  all  the  mercies  which  we  enjoy. 

The  same  plea  in  another  form  is  repeated  by  the  voice 
of  conscience  within  us.  And  that  inward  call  is  re-echoed 
and  repeated  by  God's  servants,  as  they  come  with  His 
message  to  our  souls. 

God  has  made  a  yet  more  powerful,  because  a  more 
direct  appeal  than  any  of  these.  Come  to  Calvary,  that 
you  may  hear  it  plainly.  Jesus  did  no  sin,  but  all  the 
griefs  He  felt  were  for  our  iniquities.  Hear,  again,  how 
creation  repeats  at  Calvary  the  same  earnest  cry,  "  Oh,  do 
not  this  abominable  thing."  The  sun  is  robed  in  darkness. 
The  earth  is  heaving  as  with  the  swell  of  the  ocean.  The 
dead,  as  if  awaked  by  some  awful  surprise,  look  out  of 
their  graves,  all  to  cry  out,  "Why  will  men  do  that 
abominable  thing  which  God  hates  ? " 

But  God  makes  this  appeal  by  the  revelation  of  the 
future  as  well  as  through  the  cross  of  His  Son.  He  takes 
us  to  the  brink  of  the  place  of  woe  and  gives  us  a  glimpse 
only  of  its  agony,  that  we  may  shudder  and  keep  back. 
He  says,  "  Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked  ;  whatso- 
ever a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap."  Why  then 
will  men  recklessly  rush  on  to  this  doom  ?  God  says, 
"  Why  will  ye  die  ?  "     You  may  escape  it  if  you  will,  for 


250  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

you  may  be  saved  not  only  from  the  power,  but  also  from 
the  penalty  of  sin,  through  Jesus  Christ. 

Sinner,  let  this  solemn  appeal  be  heard  by  you,  "  Oh,  do 
not  this  abominable  thing  that  I  hate." 

W.  M.  T. 


CXXIV.— A  Vision  of  Ezekiel.  Ezek.  i.  4.  "  And  I 
looked,  and,  behold,  a  whirlwind  came  out  of  the  north,  a 
great  cloud,  a?id  afire" 

THE  history  of  the  Jews  was  a  succession  of  startling 
paradoxes.  Their  most  signal  defeats  were  very  often 
their  most  splendid  triumphs,  and  in  three  several  crises 
in  their  career — in  youth,  in  middle  life,  and  in  old  age — 
when  they  came  into  contact  with  Egypt,  Babylon,  and 
Rome,  each  time  when  they  were  almost  annihilated,  they 
started  into  new  and  more  vigorous  life.  Their  unmaking 
was  their  making  anew.  As  a  paradox  the  Babylonian 
captivity  was  the  most  striking  of  all.  In  their  helpless, 
hopeless  misery,  and  in  the  very  abyss  of  their  despair, 
above  the  howling  of  the  storm  the  paean  of  victory  rises 
till  the  whole  air  is  filled  with  the  sound.  No  prophet  is 
more  confident  of  the  future  than  the  exile  on  the  banks  of 
Chebar.  It  is  not  that  he  sees  only  the  bright  prospects. 
No  words  can  be  more  severe  than  those  in  which  he 
denounces  the  sins  of  his  countrymen.  And  yet  as  the 
prophet's  eye  ranges  beyond  the  present,  what  does  he 
see  ?  He  looks  out  on  the  desert :  it  is  a  scene  of  cata- 
strophe, the  ground  is  covered  with  bones,  tossed  hither 
and  thither  by  the  fury  of  the  elements,  or  the  hand  of 
man.  Is  it  possible  that  these  bones  shall  live  and  move 
again  ?  God  only  can  say.  But  a  moment  more  and  the 
answer  comes — there  is  a  clattering  of  bones  and  they 
come  together,  bone  to  his  bone,  and  the  flesh  and  sinews 
cover  them,  and  they  start  to  their  feet  an  exceeding  great 
army.  Then  after  the  revival  of  Israel  comes  the  oppor- 
tunity to  this  army ;  the  battle  is  still  unfought,  the  victory 
has  still  to  be  won. 

So  the  prophet  is  carried  again  by  the  Spirit,  and  he 
sees  everything  on  a  grander  scale.  His  eye  is  arrested  by 
a  simple  spring  of  water — fit  symbol  this  of  the  Church 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


of  God.  As  he  watches  it,  it  rises  and  swells  silently,  it 
streams  onward  until  it  washes  Moab  and  sweetens  even 
the  waters  of  the  Dead  Sea.  A  stream  so  puny  and 
obscure  in  its  source,  so  bright  and  beautiful  in  its  issues, 
this  mighty  river  of  God. 

So  it  has  always  been.  God's  chief  revelations  have 
ever  flashed  out  in  seasons  of  trial  and  perplexity.  As  in 
Ezekiel's  days,  there  has  been  first  the  whirlwind,  then  the 
flame,  and  the  light  glowing  amidst  the  blackness  of  the 
cloud.  There  is  first  the  wild  impetuous  force  rooting  up  all 
old  institutions,  scattering  all  old  ideas,  sweeping  all  things 
human  and  Divine  into  its  abyss.  Then  the  dark  cloud  of 
despair  settles  down  upon  them  until  the  chariot  of  God 
emerges,  blinding  their  eyes  with  its  dazzling  splendour, 
and  after  this  the  vision  of  a  larger  and  purer  worship.  It 
was  so  at  the  epoch  of  the  Babylonian  captivity,  at  the 
downfall  of  the  Roman  empire,  at  the  Reformation,  and 
shall  it  not  be  so  once  again  ? 

We  are  warned  by  the  experience  of  the  past  not  to 
overrate  either  the  perplexities  or  the  hopes  of  the  present. 
Nearness  of  view  unduly  magnifies  the  proportions  of 
events. 

Yet  it  is  surely  true  that  the  Church  of  our  day  is 
passing  through  one  of  those  momentous  crises  which  only 
occur  at  intervals  of  two  or  three  centuries.  It  is  the 
simultaneous  occurrence  of  so  many  and  various  disturbing 
elements  which  form  the  characteristic  feature  of  our  age. 
Here  is  the  vast  accumulation  of  scientific  facts,  the  rapid 
progress  of  scientific  ideas ;  there  is  the  enlarged  know- 
ledge of  ancient  and  wide-spread  religions,  arising  from  the 
increased  facilities  of  travel.  Here  is  the  sharpening  of  the 
critical  faculty  to  a  keenness  of  edge  unattained  in  any 
previous  age.  There  is  the  accumulation  of  new  materials 
for  its  exercise  from  divers  sources.  These  are  some  of 
the  intellectual  factors  with  which  the  Church  in  this  age 
has  to  reckon. 

And  the  social  and  political  forces  are  not  less  disturb- 
ing. What  must  be  our  attitude  as  members  oi  Christ's 
Church  at  such  a  season  ?  The  experience  of  the  past  will 
inspire  hope  for  the  future.  "In  quietness  and  confidence 
shall  be  your  strength."  As  disciples  of  the  Word  Incar- 
nate, the  same  eternal  Word  who  is  and  has  been  from  the 


252  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

beginning,  in  science  as  in  history,  in  nature  as  in  revela- 
tion, we  shall  rest  assured  that  He  has  yet  much  to  teach 
us  ;  that  a  larger  display  of  His  manifold  operations,  how- 
ever confusing  now,  must  in  "the  end  carry  with  it  a  clearer 
knowledge  of  Himself.  There  is  the  whirlwind,  there  is 
the  gathering  cloud,  but  even  now  the  keen  eye  of  the 
faithful  watcher  detects  a  glimpse  of  blue  in  the  sky. 

The  very  essence  of  the  revelation  of  the  vision  of  the 
living  creatures  was  that  the  Jews  were  taught  to  look  for 
a  new  covenant,  for  a  spiritual  restoration.  Three  ideas 
are  clearly  connected  with  each  other — mobility,  spiritu- 
ality and  universality.  The  idea  of  mobility  is  the  first, 
and  it  is  significant  in  its  contrast.  The  vision  of  Ezekiei 
is  not  a  dead  and  dying  story,  it  lives  still  as  the  very 
charter  of  the  Church  of  the  future.  Any  work  for  Christ's 
Church  which  shall  be  real,  solid,  abiding,  must  follow  on 
the  lines  here  marked  out  for  us — mobility,  spirituality, 
universality ;  these  three  ideas  must  inspire  our  efforts, 
not  to  cling  obstinately  to  the  decayed  anachronisms  of 
the  past,  not  to  narrow  our  intellectual  horizon,  not  to 
stunt  our  moral  sympathies,  but  to  absorb  new  truths,  to 
gather  new  ideas,  to  adapt,  to  enlarge,  to  follow  always  the 
teaching  of  the  Spirit — the  Spirit  which,  like  the  breath  of 
the  wind,  will  not  be  bound  and  imprisoned — the  Spirit 
which  in  its  very  name  speaks  of  elasticity  and  expansion, 
passing  through  every  crevice,  filling  every  interstice,  con- 
forming itself  to  every  size  and  shape.  This  is  our  duty 
as  Christians  ;  remembering  meanwhile  that  there  is  the 
fixed  centre  from  which  our  thoughts  must  spread  and  to 
which  all  our  hopes  must  converge — Jesus  Christ,  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever. 

J.  B.  L. 


CXXV.  God's  Message  and  Man's  Unbelief. 
Ezek.  xx.  49.  "  Then  said  7,  Ah  Lord  God!  they  say  of  me, 
Doth  he  not  speak  parables  ?  " 

There  is  a  tone  of  remonstrance  and  expostulation  in 
these  words  of  the  prophet.  He  is  conscious  that  because 
of  something  in  the  nature  of  his  message  that  message 
will  be  unpopular  with  his  hearers.     Something  mystic  and 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  253 


dimly  intelligible  he  had  to  tell  the  Jews,  and  they  were 
irritated  at  the  mysterious  warnings.  Why  do  you  thus 
speak  in  parables  ?  Let  us  have  none  of  these  mysteries, 
but  plain  speech.  The  request  was  a  natural  one,  and  the 
prophet  was  tempted  to  yield  to  it  if  possible.  In  this 
entreaty  is  implied  a  petition  that  he  might  be  allowed  to 
explain  his  parable.  The  desire  was  distinctly  simple  on 
both  parts,  though  natural,  for  these  words  were  God's 
verbal  revelation,  and  were  not  the  prophet's  own  to  alter 
as  he  pleased. 

I.  Unbelief  lay  at  the  root  of  this  request  of  the  Jews, 
and  also  at  the  root  of  the  prophet's  willingness  to  yield  to 
it.  To  say  there  is  a  God,  and  then  to  doubt  whether  that 
God  is  perfectly  true  and  wise,  is  unbelief  in  its  subtlest 
form.  In  reality  the  prophet  was  doubting  whether  the 
form  in  which  God  had  cast  His  own  message  was  the 
most  perfect  one,  and  forgetting  that  he  was  but  the 
mouth-piece  of  His  word,  and  that  he  might  leave  the 
results  of  His  message  to  Him  who  gave  it. 

II.  The  sin  of  Israel  and  the  temptation  of  Ezekiel 
exist  now  as  truly  as  they  did  then.  They  are  to  be  found 
wherever  the  Church  of  Christ,  in  discharging  her  great 
prophetic  office  for  her  Master,  confronts  an  unbelieving 
world.  She  has  words  to  speak  that  are  full  of  mystery, 
words  that  sound  like  parables  in  the  ears  of  those  who 
listen  to  them.  The  mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  and  the 
Resurrection,  and  Atonement,  and  Ascension,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit's  descent.  In  vain  does  the  teacher  seek  to  conjure 
the  spirit  of  unbelief  by  attenuating  the  message  which  he 
has  come  to  speak.  The  Church  must  be  sternly  faithful 
to  her  mission,  and  speak  whatever  parable  or  dogma  God 
has  given  her. 

III.  Let  the  Christian  Church  beware  of  speaking  her 
parables  in  addition  to  God's  parables.  W.  C.  M. 

CXXVI.  Why  will  ye  die?  Ezek.  xxxiii.  11.  "As  J 
live,  saith  the  Lord  God,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the 
wicked ;  but  that  the  wicked  turn  from  his  way  and  live :  turn 
ye,  turn  ye  from  your  evil  ways  ;  for  why  will  ye  die  ?  " 

THE  love  of  sin  is  a  species  of  infatuation.     To  make  a 
wrong  choice  once  is  certainly  possible  for  any  soul,  for 


254  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

did  not  Adam  fall ;  but  to  persist  in  the  wrong  way  after 
it  has  been  proved  wrong  shows  some  obliquity  in  the 
moral  nature.  It  is  against  reason.  It  is  against  self- 
interest  even,  when  properly  understood.  It  is  as  much  a 
folly  as  a  fault :  for  to  go  on  in  the  way  of  sin  is  to  go  on 
in  the  way  of  death.  It  means  this :  that  you  choose  a 
trifling  and  momentary  gratification  at  the  cost  of  endless 
pain.  No  man  could  make  such  a  choice  with  his  eyes 
perfectly  open.  Persistent  sin  can  come  only  through  shut- 
ting the  eyes:  it  is  like  a  spell  or  a  charm,  under  the  power 
of  Which  a  man  does  things  which  he  knows  to  be  foolish, 
as  though  he  cannot  help  it.  We  may  drink  poison,  but 
we  must  forget  that  it  is  poison  before  we  can  taste  it. 

It  follows  that  every  one  who  goes  on  wilfully  in  sin  has 
to  deceive  himself,  and  a  similar  fraud  has  to  be  repeated 
as  often  as  a  man  sins.  Every  man  who  sins,  is  led  to 
believe  a  lie.  It  is  in  the  face  of  their  better  self ;  and 
therefore  to  say  the  end  of  it  is  not  hell,  cannot  excuse  the 
guilt  of  their  choice. 

Now  against  this  self-delusion  or  infatuation  of  the  un- 
godly, God  in  His  kindness  is  for  ever  fighting  in  a  variety 
of  ways.  He  fights  by  threats  of  penalty  ;  He  fights  by 
the  fate  of  other  sinners  whom  punishment  overtakes  ;  He 
fights  by  men's  own  experiences  ;  He  fights,  as  in  this  text, 
by  reason  and  expostulation  ;  and  this  last,  as  a  means  for 
creating  such  a  state  of  mind  in  men  who  rush  blindfold  on 
their  fate,  is  often  very  effectual  for  making  it  clear  to  such 
men  that  they  are  in  a  desperate  strait.  The  sinner  is  like 
a  man  rushing  down  hill.  What  can  you  do  for  him  but 
shout  to  him  to  stop  ?  It  is  all  you  can  do — to  reason  and 
warn  and  appeal  to  his  cooler  sense.  So  precisely  does 
the  Almighty  Friend  of  us  men  plead  from  His  heavenly 
throne,  and  cry  "  Turn  ye,  turn  ye  from  your  evil  ways  ;  for 
why  will  ye  die  ?  " 

I.  On  opening  up  the  thoughts  which  underlie  the  rea- 
soning and  appeal  of  this  phrase,  I  find  to  be  implied  that 
death  is  the  inevitable  end  of  a  sinful  life  by  a  law  as  fixed 
as  fate,  a  law  which  cannot  be  set  aside.  The  evil  of  the 
commonwealth  of  the  house  of  Israel  entailed  on  it  death, 
such  a  death  as  a  commonwealth  can  die — bondage  and 
oppression  and  dispersion.  For  an  individual  to  persevere 
in  ungodly  ways  means  for  him  also  death — such  death  as 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  255 

an  immortal  being  can  die.  The  one  follows  on  the  other 
in  either  case;  death  on  persistent  sinning.  This  is  the  first 
fact  to  which  the  attention  of  every  unconverted  man  needs 
to  be  directed,  I  mean  the  inviolability  of  moral  law  In 
the  one  case  just  as  in  the  other,  if  the  effect  is  to  be  avoided 
the  cause  must  be  removed.  Now  this  is  not  the  way 
in  which  some  people  look  on  the  matter.  Some  people 
imagine  and  say,  that  because  God  is  merciful,  He  can  save 
them  at  the  last  from  the  consequences  of  their  ungodly 
ways.  This  is  to  say  they  do  not  turn  from  the  way  that 
leads  to  death  ;  they  will  not  do  that  ;  they  deliberately 
go  on  in  the  way  of  sin  as  long  as  they  have  strength  or 
time,  yet  they  expect  God  to  break  on  their  behalf  the 
law  which  dooms  the  sinner  to  suffer,  and  to  make  them 
*happy  after  death,  who  did  only  evil  in  life.  So  they  cast 
on  God  the  responsibility  of  their  saving  or  damnation.  Is 
not  this  believing  a  lie  ?  In  the  first  place,  is  it  not  your 
clear  business  so  to  live  now  as  to  ensure  eternal  life  here- 
after ?  You  must  not  neglect  this,  and  then  throw  the 
consequences  of  your  neglect  on  your  Maker.  Again, 
suppose  God  could  cancel  His  own  law  to  save  you  from 
the  result  of  persistent  sinning,  is  it  at  all  clear  that  it 
would  be  right  for  Him  to  do  so  ?  Would  it  be  fair  to 
make  no  difference  in  the  end  between  those  who  listen 
and  repent  and  obey  and  lead  holy  lives,  and  those  who 
neither  repent  nor  obey  nor  lead  holy  lives  ? 

But  the  simple  fact  is  that  not  even  the  Almighty  can 
do  this  ;  for,  observe,  it  is  no  case  of  arbitrary  penalty,  of 
a  mere  punishment  inflicted  through  the  resentment  of  the 
eternal  Law-giver,  which,  if  He  chooses  to  be  merciful,  He 
can  remit.  No  ;  the  punishments  of  God  are  natural 
sequels,  effects  which  follow  of  themselves  when  the  cause 
is  there.  Given  therefore  the  impenitent,  sinful  man,  moral 
death  follows.  It  follows  the  cause.  There  is  no  way  to 
remove  the  effect,  which  is  eternal  death.  Remove  the 
cause.  In  physics  if  you  move  along  any  given  line  no 
power  can  stop  you  from  reaching  the  point  it  leads  to. 
So  in  sin  ;  if  you  continue  in  sin,  you  must  reach  the  end, 
death. 

II.  Now,  in  the  next  place,  what  is  involved  here  is  that 
the  responsibility  for  your  final  doom  lies  upon  yourself, 
and  not  on  God.     To  go  forward  as  you  are  doing,  means  as 


256  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

we  have  seen,  for  you  to  perish.  If  you  are  not  to  perish, 
it  must  be  by  some  change.  Either  you  must  turn  your 
course,  or  the  Almighty  must  turn  His  course.  That  He 
will  not  do,  perhaps  cannot  do,  certainly  will  not  do.  The 
change  must  be  in  you  ;  "  Turn  ye,  turn  ye  from  your  evil 
ways  ;  for  why  will  ye  die  ?  " 

There  is  something  awful  in  the  solemnity  with  which 
God  protests  that  the  blame  must  lie  with  you.  He  does 
more  than  protest,  He  swears.  Do  you  imagine  it  can 
give  the  Eternal  Father,  the  ever-blessed  and  most  merci- 
ful, any  satisfaction  to  behold  you  rushing  after  death  ?  Is 
He  likely  to  put  any  stone,  if  it  were  but  a  pebble,  in  the 
way  of  your  return  to  goodness,  He  who  spared  not  His 
own  Son  to  save  you  ?  Dare  you  allege  this  is  a  hard  law, 
because  He  does  not  violate  for  you  the  sequence  of  the 
moral  constitution  of  the  universe.  With  what  eyes  but 
are  full  of  pity  can  the  great  Father  of  us  all  witness  the 
insanity  of  His  sons,  who  for  a  little  pleasure  fling  away  for 
ever  their  everlasting  inheritance  ?  No ;  it  is  impossible 
God  can  take  any  pleasure  in  your  dying.  It  lies  with 
yourself  to  turn,  O  foolish,  godless  brother !  Turn  from 
your  godless  path,  and  the  death  to  which  it  is  taking  you  ; 
and  if  you  turn,  you  will  make  God  glad,  and  if  you  turn 
not,  you  will  make  God  sad.  You  have  before  your  soul 
to-day  life  or  death.  Which  will  you  have  ?  But  know 
this  fully — I  am  now  speaking  to  the  unconverted — that  to 
go  forward  as  you  are  in  irreligion  and  impenitence  means 
nothing  less  than  a  moral  suicide.  Dare  you  undo  your 
soul  for  ever  ?  Think  of  what  you  are  casting  away. 
Come  to  God  ;  say  to  yourself  plainly,  what  it  is  you  are 
dying  for.  Can  you  answer  this  question  ?  Why  is  it  you 
are  resolved  to  die  ? 

It  is  a  question  you  dare  not  answer.  But  to  tell  the 
truth,  the  reasons  for  which  sinners  refuse  to  turn  will  not 
bear  looking  at.  When  a  person's  mind  is  set  on  an  evil 
road,  I  cannot  think  he  admits  to  himself  what  he  is  doing. 
Great  are  men's  powers  of  self-deception.  If  the  man  will 
not  admit  to  himself  what  he  is  doing,  still  less  would  he 
admit  it  to  others. 

There  must  be  many  of  you  who  give  far  less  attention 
to  religion  than  you  ought  to  ;  who  seldom  or  never  pray, 
who   are   covetous   or   vain,  and  live  only  for  the   passing 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  257 


day  ;  and  you  know  you  are  in  a  bad  way.  But  if  you 
were  to  be  interrogated  to-night,  you  would  be  at  a  loss  to 
answer.  You  might  say  as  hundreds  do,  "  We  have  no 
time  to  attend  to  religion,  for  we  are  hard-working  people, 
and  it  takes  all  our  time  to  provide  for  our  families,  and  to 
make  ends  meet."  That  is  no  answer  at  all.  As  if  religion 
hindered  work !  As  if  the  godly  person  could  not  attend 
to  his  business !  The  thing  is  too  preposterous  ;  your 
reasoning  is  not  reasoning  at  all,  it  is  the  thinnest  pretence. 
What  religion  does  hinder  is  a  dishonest  trick  for  making 
money ;  what  religion  does  discourage  is  anxiety  about 
ends  meeting  which  eats  up  the  whole  soul.  But  careful 
husbanding  and  honest  labour  and  providing  for  one's 
family  ;  it  does  not  discourage  this,  it  rather  helps  it  on. 

In  what  class  of  society  do  you  find  genuine  Christians  ? 
among  the  squalid  and  beggarly,  or  among  the  hard-work- 
ing and  careful  and  well  off?  Is  not  the  reasoning  I  have 
mentioned  above  a  manifest  falsehood  ? 

Again,  some  people  say  there  is  no  good  in  being  re- 
ligious because  so  many  religious  people  are  hypocrites, 
or  because  there  are  so  many  different  beliefs,  and  they  do 
not  know  which  to  believe.  Is  there  any  difference  of 
opinion  about  the  advantage  of  a  good  life  over  a  bad  one? 
Does  any  one  really  believe  that  he  will  be  excused  from 
the  love  of  God  because  Christians  go  to  different  churches? 
Because  many  people  say  their  prayers  in  a  different  way 
is  it  allowable  for  me  to  say  no  prayers  at  all  ?  The  truth 
is,  all  such  talk  is  the  flimsiest  attempt  on  the  part  of  un- 
godly persons  to  veil  from  themselves  and  from  others  the 
honest  fact  that  they  dislike  religion  and  like  their  evil 
ways  too  well  to  abandon  them.  You  may  make  what 
excuses  you  please,  but  depend  upon  it,  this  is  at  bottom 
the  real  reason.  It  is  a  sorry  profession  to  make,  that  the 
irreligious  life  is  more  to  our  taste,  that  you  prefer  to  run 
the  risk  of  eternal  death  than  to  have  pardon.  And  yet  I 
can  find  no  other  reason  for  impenitent  hearers  of  the 
gospel. 

Why  do  not  you  turn  ?  Try  to  be  honest  for  once.  It 
is  not  really  for  your  making  any  gain  that  you  sin  ;  a  few 
shillings  would  make  up  what  you  gain  by  sinning.  Is  it 
worth  throwing  your  soul  away  ?  Is  it  the  pleasure  of 
drinking,   swearing,  or  lewdness — a  little  of  this  tires  us. 

S 


258  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

The  game  is  not  worth  the  candle.  Why,  then,  is  it  ?  The 
real  reason  why  we  go  on  is  this  I  suspect — we  have  such 
a  distaste  to  religion,  find  it  so  dull,  we  cannot  make  up 
our  minds  to  take  up  with  it.  Rather  than  that,  we  put 
it  off  from  year  to  year,  and  in  the  meantime  go  on  sinning. 
Is  it  not  a  fact  that  some  of  you  think  of  religion  and  piety 
as  a  noisome  drug,  which  might  save  our  life  at  some  time, 
but  which  you  leave  alone  as  long  as  you  can  ?  To  keep 
God's  day,  to  walk  as  the  saints  did — these  things  would 
be  such  a  restraint  upon  you,  and  are  so  disagreeable,  that 
you  put  religion  on  one  side,  and  are  growing  grey  very 
fast  in  the  path  of  the  destroyer. 

Ask  yourselves  whether  such  conduct  be  wise.  First  of 
all,  there  is  no  denying  that  you  are  going  on  at  a  frightful 
risk,  because  to  feel  in  that  way  about  God  and  His  service 
is  to  be  religiously  dead  ;  and  to  go  on  in  that  condition 
without  changing,  is  to  be  for  ever  unfit  for  His  Heavenly 
presence,  or  the  place  where  His  disciples  dwell.  Anybody 
who  does  not  like  to  praise  Him,  and  to  serve  Him,  and  to 
fear  Him,  and  do  His  bidding,  cannot,  it  is  plain,  have  the 
slightest  chance  of  ever  getting  into  heaven.  As  you  are, 
eternal  death  stares  you  in  the  face. 

In  the  next  place,  you  are  not  getting  a  great  deal  for 
the  terrific  risk  you  are  running.  You  are  not  even  gaining 
present  happiness,  because  you  cannot  have  an  easy  life. 
You  come  to  the  church,  you  know  the  truth,  you  read  the 
Bible,  you  feel  the  change  must  come  one  day,  and  you 
are  in  alarm  lest  you  put  it  off  too  long.  By  shirking  the 
disagreeable  duty  of  repentance  and  a  religious  life,  what 
are  you  gaining  ?  Not  happiness  ;  at  best  a  little  respite 
from  what  you  call  restraint.  But  is  religion  so  disagree- 
able that  to  put  it  off  is  worth  all  this  ?  What  if  after 
risking  your  life  you  turn,  repent,  obey,  be  truly  devout 
and  follow  God,  and  find  it  is  not  the  irksome,  dull,  un- 
pleasant weariness  which  you  were  silly  enough  to  take  it 
for  ?  It  is  so  to  you  now,  I  grant,  before  you  turn.  Of 
course  it  is,  because  your  taste  does  not  lie  that  way.  You 
have  long  preferred  ungodliness  to  God;  but  to  turn,  which 
God  bids  you  do,  means  to  acquire  a  new  taste.  Conver- 
sion, what  does  that  mean  ?  It  means  falling  in  love  with 
piety,  with  Jesus  Christ,  and  with  God.  Now  to  fall  in 
love  with  anything  transmutes  its  character  in  our  eyes. 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  259 

Once  you  are  turned,  therefore,  all  will  be  changed  ;  the 
scales  will  drop  from  your  eyes  ;  you  will  be  in  a  new 
world  ;  and  it  will  not  be  formidable,  but  gracious.  It  will 
not  be  irksome  to  us.  Religion  will  not  be  your  aversion, 
but  will  be  your  joy.  "A  new  heart  I  will  give  you,"  says 
God.  What  a  surprising  change  will  come  over  us  !  The 
religion  which  appears  to  us  now  so  dull,  will  be  to  your 
new-opened  eyes  and  new-ravished  heart  the  only  true 
way. 

What  if  this  be  so,  and  surely  God  would  not  call  you 
unless  it  were  so !  Then  what  a  fool  you  must  be,  and 
what  a  prodigious  mistake  you  must  be  making !  To  what 
a  blunder  are  you  sacrificing  your  life  !  Oh,  sirs,  to  turn  to 
God  with  desire  and  love  is  to  be  for  ever  happy.  But 
you  will  not  do  it,  fearing  it  will  make  you  wretched.  Fatal 
blunder — oh,  moral  suicide  for  a  blunder.  Is  it  surprising, 
I  ask  you,  that  heaven  looks  on  amazed,  and  Jesus  weeps 
for  pity,  and  God  Himself,  loving  us  like  a  father,  pursues 
us  with  pitiable  cries  for  us  to  stop,  while  we  go  on  the 
fatal  road  ?  If  men  only  would  be  wise  and  consider  their 
latter  end  !  If  only  they  would  pause  and  recollect  whither 
the  road  is  leading  them,  and  what  they  are  gaining  by  it. 
To  think  to  them  might  be  the  first  step  of  turning,  and 
turning  is  the  first  step  to  light  and  blessedness.  "  Turn 
ye,  turn  ye  from  your  evil  ways  ;  for  why  will  ye  die  ?  " 

J.  O.  D. 

CXXVII.  The  Formalist  and  the  Christian.  Ezek. 
xxxiii.  30-33.  "A/so,  thou  son  of  man,  the  children  of  thy 
people  still  are  talking  against  thee  by  the  walls  and  in  the 
doors  of  the  houses,  and  speak  one  to  another,  every  one  to  his 
brother,  saying,  Come,  I  pray  you,  and  hear  what  is  the  word 
that  cometh  forth  from  the  Lord. 

"  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to 
dwell  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth  "  so  saith  the  Scrip- 
ture. Though  cavillers  have  tried  their  uttermost  they 
have  failed  to  shake  the  testimony.  Such  cavillers  have  a 
favourite  theory  that  there  were  many  distinct  aboriginal 
races  of  men.  We  may  argue  successfully  against  this 
theory  from  the  sad  uniformity  of  evil,  and  from  the  repro- 
duction in  every  age  of  the  same  types  of  character.     Be- 


26o  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

cause  of  the  strong  family  likeness  which  one  age  transmits 
to  another,  Scripture  portraits  sketched  in  the  almost  for- 
gotten past  may  hang  in  our  galleries  to-day  and  may  pass 
for  very  pictures  of  the  living.  Who  can  mistake  the 
delineation  of  the  character  presented  to  us  in  the  text  ? 
It  is  the  description  of  the  formalist. 

Let  us  look  at  the  points  of  resemblance  and  the  points 
of  difference  between  the  Formalist  and  the  Christian. 

I.  There  is  a  resemblance  to  the  spirit  of  hearing  and 
in  the  respect  which  is  felt  for  the  temper  and  the  minister 
of  it  ?  "  Come,  I  pray  you,  and  hear  what  is  the  word 
that  cometh  forth  from  the  Lord." 

II.  There  is  a  resemblance  in  their  attachment  to  the 
ordinances  of  religion.  "  And  they  come  unto  thee  as  the 
people  cometh." 

III.  There  is  a  resemblance  in  their  feelings  being 
touched  under  the  minister's  discourse.  "  And,  lo,  thou 
art  unto  them  as  a  very  lovely  song  of  one  that  hath  a 
pleasant  voice." 

Thus  far  the  resemblance  between  those  who  are  only 
externally  the  Lord's  and  those  who  have  felt  Him  in  the 
heart  and  in  the  life.  The  difference  is  that  in  the  forma- 
list the  heart  is  not  right  in  the  sight  of  God.  The  main 
hindrance  is  the  over-weening  preference  for  the  present, 
the  bondage  of  the  soul  to  dense  and  external  things. 
"  They  hear  thy  words  but  they  will  not  do  them."  Why  ? 
"  Their  heart  goeth  after  their  covetousness." 

Religion  is  a  thing  of  the  heart,  it  is  not  a  mere  timorous 
morality  ;  it  is  not  a  faultless  observance  of  devotion,  it  is 
a  warm  life  welling  up  from  a  renewed  heart :  it  is  a  new 
affection  expelling  or  controlling  the  old.  The  formalist, 
if  he  remains  such,  shall  remember  too  late  the  faithful 
minister's  warning,  "  Then  shall  they  know  that  a  prophet 
hath  been  among  them." 

W.  M.  P. 

CXXVIII.  The  Valley  of  Dry  Bones.  Ezek.  xxxvii. 
3.  "  And  he  said  unto  me,  Son  of  man,  can  these  bones  live '? 
And  I  answered,  O  Lord  God,  Thou  knowest." 

LIKE  many  other  visions  before  and  since,  this  vision  of 
the  valley  of  dry  bones  was  partly  shaped  by  the  circum- 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  261 

stances  of  the  time.  The  horrors  of  the  Chaldean  invasion 
were  still  fresh  in  the  memory,  and  in  many  a  valley  the 
army's  track  would  have  been  marked  by  the  bones  of  the 
slaughtered  peasantry.  What  are  we  to  understand  by  the 
dry  bones  of  the  vision  of  Ezekiel  ? 

This  is  plainly  the  picture  of  a  resurrection — not  indeed 
of  the  general  resurrection,  because  what  Ezekiel  saw  was 
limited  and  local,  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  a  sample  of 
what  will  occur  at  the  general  resurrection. 

I.  These  dry  bones  of  Ezekiel's  vision  may  well  repre- 
sent the  lifeless  condition  of  societies  of  men  at  particular 
times  in  their  history,  of  nations,  of  churches,  of  less  im- 
portant institutions.  The  Jewish  nation  believes  itself  to 
be  pictured  in  the  vision  as  the  dry  bones.  In  the  captivity 
little  was  left  to  Israel  beyond  a  skeleton  of  its  former  self. 
At  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  from  Babylon  the  promises 
in  the  vision  were  fulfilled.  The  Divine  breath  came  upon 
the  bones,  and  they  lived.  The  remains  of  the  past  of 
Israel, — its  sacred  books,  its  priests,  its  prophets,  its  laws. 
These  once  more  moved  in  the  soul  of  the  nation.  We 
read  of  the  completion  of  this  restoration  in  the  Books  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiah. 

II.  The  dry  bones  of  Ezekiel's  vision  may  be  discovered, 
and  that  not  seldom,  within  the  human  soul.  When  a  soul 
has  lost  its  hold  on  truth  or  grace,  all  the  traces  of  what  it 
once  has  been  do  not  forthwith  disappear.  There  are  sur- 
vivals of  the  old  believing  life,  fragments  of  the  skeleton  of 
the  old  convictions,  phrases  which  expressed  the  feeling 
which  once  winged  a  prayer.  These  may  remain  on  in 
the  arid  desolation,  a  very  valley  full  of  dry  bones.  Let 
these  dry  bones  be  respected.  On  them  the  breath  of  God 
may  light.  Habit  which  is  only  habit  is  not  life,  but  it  is 
better  than  nothing  at  all.  A  man  may  have  ceased  to 
mean  his  prayers,  but  let  him  not  break  with  the  little  that 
remains  of  what  once  was  life.  The  quickening  power  of 
Christ's  resurrection  may  assert  itself  victoriously  in  that 
desert  soul,  so  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead 
in  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  this  soul  should  walk  in 
newness  of  life. 

H.  P.  L. 


262  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

CXXIX.    Authority.    Daniel  xii.  9.      "  And  he  said,  Go  thy 
way,  Daniel :  for  the  words  are  closed  up  a?id  sealed  till  the  time 
of  the  end.    Many  shall  be  purified,  and  made  white,  and  tried; 
but  the  wicked  shall  do  wickedly  :  and  none  of  the  wicked  shall 
understand,  but* the  wise  shall  understand" 
It  is  the  manner  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  sacred  prophecy  to 
pass  rapidly  from  one  future  event  to  another  foreshadowed 
by  it.     The  prophet  in  this   Scripture  having  revealed  the 
sufferings  which  the  Hebrew  Church  and  nation  would  en- 
dure in  the  time  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  passes  on  by  a 
quick  transition  to  unfold  the  trials  which  await  the  Chris- 
tian Church  in   the  latter  days.     It  is  a  subject  for  serious 
inquiry  whether,  in  the  history  of  the  Church  or  world  of 
late  years,  there  has  not  been  a  gradual  tendency  towards 
a  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy. 

I.  In  reviewing  the  past  we  may  recognise  a  remarkable 
change  in  popular  opinion  concerning  the  origin  and  claims 
of  authority,  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical.  The  belief  taught 
by  St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  that  authority  is  derived  from 
God,  and  that  obedience  is  due  to  lawful  authority  in  things 
not  unlawful  for  the  Lord's  sake,  has  now  been  greatly 
weakened  ;  and  authority  is  commonly  supposed  to  be 
derived  from  earth  and  not  from  heaven,  and  to  have  no 
other  claim  upon  allegiance  than  that  which  depends  on  the 
voice  of  the  people,  and  not  on  the  will  of  God.  Together 
with  the  change  in  popular  opinion  as  to  the  claims  of 
authority  two  other  powers  have  grown  up.  Men  crave 
protection,  and  admire  strength.  On  one  side  some  have 
almost  deified  the  Roman  Papacy,  and  on  the  other  side 
some  have  been  driven  to  defy  air-authority  whether 
temporal  or  spiritual,  and  to  cast  away  all  belief  in  a  Per- 
sonal Ruler  of  the  world,  and  in  future  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, and  to  place  the  people  on  the  throne  of  God. 

II.  Our  own  duty  in  face  of  these  events.  We  must  en- 
deavour to  revive  in  the  public  mind  a  recognition  of  the 
Divine  origin  of  authority.  This  feeling  needs  to  be  an- 
swered in  rulers  as  well  as  in  subjects.  If  parents,  masters, 
and  governors  were  resolved  to  act  in  the  consciousness 
that  their  authority  is  received  from  God,  and  that  He  will 
call  them  to  account  at  the  Great  Day,  then  they  would 
use  it  as  a  sacred  trust  from  heaven,  and  never  abuse  it  to 
gratify  their  own  selfish  desires.  C.  W 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  263 

CXXX.  The  Way  and  the  End.  Dan.  xii.  13. 
"  But  go  thou  thy  way  till  the  end  be :  for  thou  shalt  rest, 
and  stand  in  thy  lot  at  the  e?id  of  the  days." 

There  are  two  things  which  mark  out  man  from  the  lower 
creatures — he  has  a  past  and  a  future.  They  cannot  live  in 
memory,  but  man  has  the  past  in  history  and  thoughts  that 
wander  back  into  God's  eternity.  They  have  no  future — it 
is  blank,  black  darkness.  Man  has  a  future — the  future 
of  this  life  and  of  God's  great  eternity — thoughts  of  which 
often  give  him  great  unrest.  The  past  often  brings  up 
misery — he  sees  spectres  in  the  future  that  threaten  him- 
self and  God's  world.  So  here  with  the  prophet  Daniel, 
"  What  shall  be  the  end  of  these  things  ? "  What  is  the 
solution  ?  This  text  is  the  answer  to  his  questioning,  and 
surely  well  suited  to  us  in  the  present  troubled  state  of 
things. 

Let  us  then  consider  :  First,  some  things  contained  in  it  ; 
second,  some  people  to  whom  this  text  is  addressed. 

I.  (1)  There  is  to  be  an  end — **  till  the  end  be;"  things 
are  not  always  to  remain  perplexed  and  troubled.  The  face 
of  the  world,  thoughtfully  considered,  teaches  us  this  :  the 
earth  is  limited  and  bounded,  and  yet  with  ever-increasing 
inhabitants  the  limit  must  be  reached.  Did  not  the  maker 
take  this  into  account  ?  A  house  too  small  for  the  dwellers 
must  be  extended  or  pulled  down.  An  artist  with  his 
picture  must  come  to  the  end  of  his  canvas.  Surely  the 
greatest  architect  and  artist  thought  of  this.  If  there  is 
wisdom  at  all  the  world  must  end.  Men  of  science  tell  us 
the  same,  that  the  earth  is  gradually  nearing  and  narrowing 
its  circuit  round  the  central  sun,  till  it  must  some  day  be 
burned  up  in  it.  There  will  be  an  end  and  dissolution. 
This  world  gives  way  to  a  new  and  higher  world  for  those 
who  love  and  trust  God. 

(2)  There  is  to  be  a  solution  of  difficult  things  at  that 
end.  Many  things  at  present  greatly  trouble  us.  Let  them 
rest,  they  will  be  solved  at  that  great  end.  All  these  per- 
plexities and  doubts  shall  end.  At  the  day  of  the  revela- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  many  doubts  will  flee  away  at  one  look 
at  His  face.  His  people  will  be  sure  then  of  their  interest 
in  Him,  and  of  the  righteousness  of  His  working.  Many 
Christians  are  troubled  because  the   battle   seems  evenly 


264  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

balanced,  or  even  inclining  to  the  side  of  evil.  But  then 
truth  shall  be  set  on  the  throne  ;  judgment  shall  return  to 
righteousness. 

(3)  There  is  a  way  for  us  to  walk  in  till  that  end  shall 
come.  There  is  a  secure  way — happy  to  have  a  view  of 
the  end  from  an  exceeding  high  mountain — often  we  have 
not  that.  When  the  sailor  sees  the  heavens  clear  he  is  glad. 
But  it  is  not  always  so.  He  is  tossed  up  and  down  like  the 
apostle,  seeing  neither  sun  nor  moon  nor  stars.  Still  he 
has  his  chart  and  compass  to  guide  him,  though  the  higher 
lights  are  dimmed,  and  he  finds  his  way  by  them.  And 
we  have  always  our  chart  to  show  us  our  way — the  word  of 
God  ;  our  compass,  an  enlightened  conscience  ;  our  log-line 
of  experiences,  and  using  them  we  shall  find  our  way  to 
God.  Our  way,  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  God's  likeness, 
growing  from  glory  to  glory,  and  our  way  to  true  happi- 
ness seeking  the  fellowship  of  God.  Nothing  can  pluck  us 
from  that  way. 

Each  one  has  his  separate  way.  Go  then  thy  way.  A 
way  for  thee — for  thee — in  this  great  highway.  Yes,  for 
each  man  and  woman  something  he  or  she  can  do  ;  no 
other  can.  Some  influence  which  no  other  has.  This  is 
the  reason  why  you  are  here  in  the  world.  Let  this  be  a 
comfort  to  us  that  each  has  a  way. 

Christian  people  often  trouble  about  which  way.  "  If 
we  only  knew  which  road  to  take  ;  "  if  we  could  only  hear 
God  saying, "  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it."  But  this  way 
of  doubt  and  perplexity  may  be  the  very  way  for  thee, 
teaching  thee  to  seek  His  Spirit  and  word.  Thy  way  may 
be  across  an  arid  sand,  or  beset  with  thorns  and  thickets, 
where  there  seems  no  pathway.  Thou  hast  to  stand  still,  it 
may  be,  to  see  the  salvation  of  God. 

(4)  To  all  such  as  are  willing  to  take  God's  way,  there 
will  be  rest  and  blessedness  in  the  end  :  thou  shalt  rest 
and  stand  in  thy  lot.  Thou  shalt  rest,  rest  meantime  in 
thy  heart,  in  thy  peace  of  mind,  finding  true  rest  of  spirit. 
Great  peace  have  they,  who  love  Thy  law.  A  surface  of 
trouble  it  may  be,  but  a  deep  peace  below  where  we  rest  in 
God.  Peace  I  leave  with  you,  a  legacy,  but  peace  I  give 
unto  you,  a  present  gift,  and  also  before  the  time  of  the  end 
thou  shalt  have  rest.  Thy  grave  is  a  place  of  rest.  The 
hand  of  the  Lord  Jesus  lies  on  each  grave  to  keep  the  dust 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  265 

of  His  people  distinct.  And  all  the  storm  of  tempest  can- 
not touch  it  till  He  comes.  When  the  winter  is  over,  with 
a  voice  soft  and  strong — soft  as  breeze  of  spring,  strong  as 
the  archangel's  trump — He  will  call,  saying,  "Arise  my 
love,  my  fair  one,  and  come  away." 

The  intermediate  state  is  the  darkest  part  of  our  exist- 
ence. A  deep  shadow  lies  between  the  two  worlds,  but  it 
will  be  a  time  of  perfect  rest.  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with 
Me."  If  these  blessed  souls  had  any  disquiet,  and  should 
say,  "  O  Lord,  how  long,  holy  and  true  ? "  He  would  bid 
them  rest  till  the  time  be  accomplished. 

(5)  Stand  in  their  lot,  figurative  of  the  lot  of  tribes  of 
Israel.  They  got  their  part  in  Canaan  by  lot,  so  this  means 
here  an  appointed  place  in  the  great  promised  land  of  rest, 
in  which  great  place  there  will  be  a  wise  and  merciful 
appointment  of  the  mansion  to  the  person.  Each  way 
shall  lead  to  its  fitting  place.  Heaven  is  not  a  wide,  mono- 
tonous, indiscriminate  field,  but  an  ordered  place.  Those 
who  have  lived  together  here,  and  cheered  each  other  here, 
shall  find  themselves  together  there.  Heaven  is  human 
and  home-like,  the  present  delivered  from  trial  and  sorrow. 

A  great  thought  to  think  of  other  company  also.  Moses, 
when  his  face  shall  not  need  to  be  veiled  for  its  brightness  ; 
David,  tuning  his  harp  now  to  nothing  but  songs  of  glad- 
ness; Paul,  and  the  rest;  but  better  to  meet  the  longed  for 
and  the  lost,  when  God  shall  heal  the  breach  of  His  people 
and  bind  the  stroke  of  their  wound. 

II.  Classes  to  whom  this  may  be  addressed  : 

(1)  To  those  perplexed  about  prophecy,  and  the  future 
of  God's  world  ;  right  to  deal  with  these  things,  but  not  to 
be  pre-occupied  with  them  ;  leave  them  and  attend  to  duties 
at  thy  feet.  Some  always  perplexed  about  the  Church. 
Every  new  form  of  infidelity  which  springs  up  they  think 
the  end  of  it  is  come.  "  Go  thou  thy  way  ;  thy  way  is 
clear.    As  for  me  and  my  children,  we  will  serve  the  Lord." 

(2)  And  so  about  other  doubts  and  questionings,  about 
predestination,  freewill,  etc.  God  did  not  give  the  Bible  for 
speculation,  but  as  a  light  to  thy  feet  and  lamp  to  thy  path. 

(3)  To  those  troubled  about  future  in  this  world,  especially 
at  this  time  when  the  future  looks  so  clouded.  What  is 
to  become  of  me  ?  How  is  the  wolf  to  be  kept  from  the 
door  ?     And  if  my  friend  die,  am  I  to  fall  out  like  a  weary 


266  OUTLINES   ON   THE 

straggler  from  the  ranks  of  men  and  be  forsaken  ?  Go  on, 
thy  bread  shall  be  given.  Take  no  thought  for  the  morrow. 
Thought  of  its  duties,  yes,  but  not  of  the  results. 

(4)  People  troubled  about  future  in  another  world.  It  is 
right  to  make  calling  and  election  sure,  but  they  go  beyond 
that.  How  if  I  am  on  the  right,  and  my  friend  on  the  left. 
Shall  I  carry  a  sting  of  my  sins  ?  Heaven  is  human,  but 
not  carnal  nor  earthly.  God  will  make  all  these  things 
well  to  thee.  Go  and  sin  no  more.  I  go  to  my  Father 
and  yours. 

III.  We  should  be  very  glad  of  two  things:  First,  that 
there  is  an  end  ;  and  secondly,  a  way. 

(1)  What  if  there  were  no  end  but  this  troubled  life  to 
go  on  ;  but  this  shall  have  an  end  ;  sin  put  down  under 
His  righteous  feet. 

(2)  A  way.  What  if  there  had  been  no  way.  I  am  the 
Way.  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth  and  heart. 
In  mouth,  when  you  cry,  Lord,  save  me  ;  in  thy  heart  when 
He  says,  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock.  All 
roads  lead  to  Rome,  says  the  old  proverb.  Take  any  path 
in  the  way  of  God,  the  humblest  and  lowliest,  it  leads  to 
heaven.  Not  a  drop  in  the  moorland  but  what  finds  its 
way  down  into  the  streamlet  and  goes  to  the  ocean.  Not 
a  thought  that  seeks  to  go  God-ward  but  He  will  lead  it 
thither.     Beware  of  the  end  without  the  way. 

J.  K. 


CXXXI.      The     Valley     of     Achor.     Hosea    ii.    15. 
"  The  valley  of  Achor  for  a  door  of  hope? 

HOSEA  lived  on  the  eve  of  a  signal  crisis  in  the  history  of 
Israel.  Already  when  he  wrote  the  Assyrian  eagles  were 
hovering  over  their  prey,  and  soon  the  fatal  swoop  came. 
On  the  eve  of  this  second  captivity  the  prophet's  thoughts 
reverted  again  and  again  to  the  lessons  of  the  first.  "  When 
Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved  him,  and  called  my  son  out 
of  Egypt"  This  is  the  suggestive  analogy  which  runs 
through  his  prophecies,  interwoven  like  a  thread  into  their 
very  texture.  The  prophet's  voice,  however  mournful,  is 
not  the  funeral  knell  of  a  dying  people.  Once  more  a 
mighty  resurrection  is  ordained,  and  the  sepulchre  shall,  be 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  267 


made  to  yield  up  its  prey.  Before  this  new  exodus  is 
crowned  with  the  triumph  of  the  old,  it  must  submit  to  the 
discipline  and  chastisement  of  the  old.  God  will  give  them 
once  more  the  valley  of  Achor,  not  that  they  may  perish 
in  their  sins,  but  that  the  sin  detected  and  put  away  may 
be  the  portal  of  a  better  hope.  "  The  valley  of  Achor,  or 
trouble,  took  its  name  from  the  trespass  of  Achan,  the 
trouble  which  he  brought  upon  Israel."  In  the  incident 
there  are  three  points  to  be  noted, — 

I.  The  nature  of  the  sin.  It  was  a  hidden  sin.  This 
probably  was  its  gratification  in  the  eyes  of  the  offender.  No 
one  else  was  wronged  by  it.  This  Babylonish  garment  would 
have  been  destroyed  by  fire  if  Achan  had  not  concealed  it 
for  his  own  use.  Does  any  one  plead  this  excuse  to  him- 
self for  indulgence  in  any  hidden  sin  ?  You  yourself  are 
the  worse  for  it,  that  is  surely  sufficient  answer,  and  doubly 
the  worse  because  it  is  a  hidden  sin.  Public  opinion  is  a 
mirror  in  which  we  see  our  own  faults.  When  this  mirror 
is  withdrawn,  sin  forgets  its  own  hideousness.  Your  sin  is 
working  as  a  poison  in  your  nature,  and  has  infected  the 
moral  atmosphere  you  diffuse  around. 

II.  The  effects  of  such  a  sin  on  the  man  himself.  It 
must  pervade  the  whole  character  of  the  man.  Untruth- 
fulness is  eating  away  his  conscience,  and  his  whole  life  is 
one  continual  lie.  He  is  not  one  man,  but  two,  and  the 
one  is  arrayed  against  the  other.  In  the  conflict  of  good 
and  evil  he  has  a  traitor  in  his  own  camp,  the  secret  sin 
within  makes  overtures  to  the  open  evil  without. 

III.  The  detection  and  putting  away  of  the  sin.  God's 
voice  is  heard,  "  Thou  hast  taken  of  the  accursed  thing, 
and  thou  hast  dissembled."  This  conviction  of  self  may  be 
realized  in  many  ways.  It  may  be  the  random  shaft  of 
the  preacher  shot  at  a  venture,  or  it  may  be  a  signal  defeat 
sustained,  which  recalls  you  to  yourself.  The  plague  spot 
is  detected.  Then  is  the  crisis.  Will  you  put  it  away  ? 
Christ's  atonement  is  not  for  you  until  you  put  away  this 
evil  thing. 

J.  B.  L. 


268  OUTLINES   ON   THE 


CXXXII.  Patriotism  and  Christianity.  Hos.  xiii.  i. 
"  When  Ephraim  spake  trembling,  he  exalted  himself  in  Israel; 
but  when  he  offended  in  Baal,  he  died.'" 

THE  principle  asserted  in  the  text  is  plain  enough. 
Solomon  embodies  it  in  the  words  "  Righteousness  exalteth 
a  nation."  We  have  formulated  it  for  ourselves,  in  our 
own  saying,  that  "  what  is  morally  wrong  can  never  be 
politically  right."  "  Trembling."  Some  give  this  word  as 
"tremblingly."  Humility,  according  to  this  rendering  of 
the  text,  is  the  root  out  of  which  this  virtue  grows, — so 
long  as  Ephraim  was  humble  he  exalted  himself,  when  he 
became  idolatrous  his  power  turned  to  weakness.  I  am 
inclined  to  the  view  that  we  ought  to  read  the  passage 
with  a  stop  after  "  trembling" — all  that  heard  him  trembled. 
It  seems  to  say  there  was  a  time  when  Ephraim  was  very 
honourable,  when  his  very  speaking  produced  an  impression 
upon  all  that  heard  him.  Ephraim  was  the  younger  son 
of  Joseph.  When  Joseph  brought  him  and  his  elder 
brother  to  Jacob's  death-bed  to  receive  his  blessing,  Jacob 
crossed  his  hands  over  each  other,  so  that  his  right  hand 
rested  upon  the  head  of  Ephraim,  and  Joseph  sought  to 
correct  this  mistake.  But  his  father  refused  to  change, 
assigning  as  his  defence  that  Manasseh  was  to  be  a  great 
people,  but  Ephraim  was  to  be  greater.  And  so  it  was. 
The  blessing  of  Jacob  was  fulfilled.  He  was  a  fruitful 
bough,  and  it  seemed  for  a  time  as  if  Ephraim  was  destined 
to  exercise  sovereignty  over  the  whole  people.  Joshua 
was  chosen  from  the  tribe.  Gideon  turned  away  their 
wrath  by  a  soft  answer,  and  their  influence  was  great  for 
good  or  for  evil.  But  they  became  turbulent  and  rebellious, 
and  all  through  their  history  we  trace  the  same  spirit.  It 
manifested  itself  to  the  detriment  of  the  unity  of  the 
nation.  When  Jeroboam  raised  the  standard  of  rebellion 
against  the  house  of  David,  and  tore  the  ten  tribes  from 
the  kingdom  of  Judah,  from  that  time  Ephraim  began  to 
die.  It  was  as  a  matter  of  policy,  that  the  people  might 
be  kept  from  going  to  Jerusalem,  that  they  instituted  the 
worship  of  the  golden  calf.  There  were  periods  of  pros- 
perity and  power,  but  its  idolatry  was  to  it  the  sentence 
of  national  death.  Jeroboam  perished  by  violence.  Ahab's 
house  was  cut  off.     The   people   died   themselves.     Every 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  269 


nation  without  its  borders  had  liberty  to  insult  it.  There 
seems  to  have  been  in  the  mind  of  the  prophet  some  such 
notion  as  this  when  he  spoke  his  burning  words.  A  livino- 
lion,  so  long  as  he  can  roar  is  feared,  but  the  most  timorous 
creature  may  trample  upon  a  dead  lion.  So  this  people, 
when  they  deserted  the  communion  of  their  God,  crouched 
to  every  one.  The  force  of  meanness  could  no  further  go. 
Ephraim  was  dead  when  their  king  could  bring  himself  to 
speak  after  such  a  fashion.  The  carcase  existed  only  for 
a  time,  because  the  surrounding  vultures  could  not  agree 
amongst  themselves.  And  now  I  say  that  the  law  that 
determined  the  fate  of  Ephraim,  will  determine  the  fate 
of  England.  We  love  our  country,  for  our  fathers,  our 
kindred  are  there,  our  children  are  there.  Proudly  she 
stands  among  the  nations.  Never  was  land  so  rich  in 
privilege,  or  a  people  so  laden  with  responsibility,  a 
country  so  endowed  with  wealth.  She  speaks  and  there 
is  trembling.  She  is  exalted  in  Israel.  Is  this  pre- 
eminence, and  privilege,  and  responsibility,  and  power, 
destined  to  continue,  or  is  it  to  share  the  fate  of  other 
nations  who  have  been  exalted  to  such  a  position  ?  Tyre, 
Babylon,  Nineveh,  Carthage, — all  empires  that  have  risen 
and  fallen,  "  art  thou  become  like  unto  them  ?  "  Is  this 
she  that  made  the  earth  tremble,  she  that  did  shake  the 
kingdoms  ?  Here  we  are  met  by  the  objection  :  "  You 
need  not  ask  the  question  at  all.  Nations  have  had  their 
birth,  their  maturity,  their  decay  ;  a  time  to  spread  their 
branches  ;  a  time  to  yield  their  fruitbearing ;  a  time  for 
them  to  die."  We  are  pointed  to  Tyre,  to  Carthage,  to 
Rome,  in  support  of  such  an  argument ;  but  the  fact  is 
ignored  that  the  analogy  is  imperfect,  from  one  single 
thing — they  had  not  what  we  have,  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Christianity  has  introduced  a  new  factor  into  the 
problem.  It  is  in  itself  a  leaven  of  purity,  which,  operating 
freely,  will  leaven  the  whole  lump.  The  past  is  not  to  be 
stated  as  if  it  were  an  infallible  proof.  The  throne  needs 
no  alliance  to  defend  it  that  is  guarded  by  a  generation 
of  righteous  men.  There  can  be  but  one  answer  then. 
It  rests  with  the  Churches  of  our  day  to  be  faithful  and 
England  will  not  fail.  If  they  are  faithless,  then,  like 
Ephraim,  England  must  die.  But  now,  met  by  one 
objection,  which  we  have  disposed  of,  we  are  confronted  by 
another. 


270  OUTLINES   ON  THE 


Christianity  does  not  sanction  such  an  appeal  as  that 
we  are  making,  does  not  sanction  patriotism  at  all.  Notice 
how  extremes  meet.  The  so-called  spiritualistic  class  of 
Christians  say  :  "  Let  things  take  their  course  ;  our  business 
is  not  to  trouble  ourselves  about  our  country,  but  to  save 
our  souls."  The  infidel  says  "Yes,  you  need  not  go  to 
Christian  examples  for  patriotism,  but  to  infidels;  Themis- 
tocles,  Aristides,  etc.,  are  better  examples  of  love  of 
country  than  David  or  Paul  or  Jesus  !  "  Both  parties  are 
wrong.  Christianity  assumes  patriotism.  It  does  not  re- 
thrash  straw  that  has  been  thrashed  already.  But  still 
further,  carrying  the  war  into  the  enemy's  camp,  I  ask, 
is  it  in  the  poetry  of  Homer  that  we  read  "  pray  for  the 
peace  of  Jerusalem,  they  shall  prosper  that  love  thee"? 
Or  the  sentiment,  "  If  I  forget  thee,  oh  Jerusalem,  may  my 
right  hand  forget  her  cunning "  ?  Was  it  from  the  pen 
of  Seneca  or  Epictetus  that  the  sentiment  came,  "  For 
Zion's  sake,  I  will  not  hold  my  peace  "  ?  Was  it  Aristotle 
that  said,  "  I  would  wish  myself  accursed  for  my  brethren"? 
Has  Regulus  anything  to  equal  the  mourning  cry  of  Jesus 
— "  Oh  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets; 
how  often  would  I  have  guarded  thee  as  a  hen  guardeth 
her  chickens  under  her  wings,"  etc.  It  cannot  but  be  that 
it  is  a  right  thing  for  Christian  men  to  be  patriotic  and 
to  care  for  the  good  of  their  country.  I  now  proceed  to 
specify  the  modes  in  which  we  may  manifest  this  patriot- 
ism, this  love  of  our  country. 

I.  Personal  influence  on  the  side  of  goodness.  Every 
sin  that  you  and  I  commit  threatens  a  permanent  removal 
of  the  candlestick,  every  act  of  injustice  is  an  unholy 
leaven  in  our  country's  peace  ;  every  sin  of  which  we  are 
conscious  is  a  playing  with  fire  in  the  mines  of  gunpowder. 
Mercy,  frugality,  temperance,  bring  with  them  unity,  peace, 
population.  The  opposite  vices  bring  with  them  the 
national  adversity  in  which  the  prophet  may  say  :  "  And 
with  so  much  ye  bring  in  little ;  ye  eat,  and  have  not  enough ; 
ye  drink,  and  are  still  athirst  ;  ye  clothe  you  ;  and  he  that 
earneth  riches  earneth  them  to  put  them  into  a  bag  with 
holes." 

The  first  contribution  a  man  can  make  to  his  country's 
prosperity  is  personal  goodness. 

II.  Next  to  that  is   personal   activity.     Doing  good  is  a 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  271 

necessary  adjunct  to  being  good.  Read  the  4th  chapter 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  There  you  have  the 
Apostolic  idea  of  the  Christian  ministry,  its  origin  and 
its  results.  The  great  mass  of  our  congregations  have  a 
wrong  idea  of  the  minister's  work.  Ask  them,  and  they 
will  tell  you  that  a  minister's  duty  is  to  save  souls.  And 
they  will  say,  "He  is  to  conduct  prayer  meetings  and 
cottage  meetings,  to  distribute  tracts,  to  alarm  the  uncon- 
verted, and  generally  to  compel  men  to  come  in."  But 
unless  you  know  more  about  a  minister's  duty  than  the 
apostle  Paul,  this  is  not  the  minister's  peculiar  duty  at  all. 
The  apostle  says  that  the  special  work  is  for  "the  perfecting 
of  the  saints,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ."  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  minister  is  to  be  careless  of  the 
evangelization  of  the  world.  It  does  mean  that  the  pastors 
are  to  preside  in  the  church,  and  to  keep  the  fountains  of 
strength  lovely  and  pure  there.  But  the  people  who  drink 
of  those  "fountains,  they  are  to  bring  the  wanderers  home, 
they  are  the  stream  ;  and  they  are  to  compel  those  who 
are  not  at  the  feast  to  come  in.  So  much  you  see  is  taken 
for  granted.  It  is  not  the  especial  ministerial  function  to 
evangelize  the  world,  it  is  your  function  ;  it  is  the  minister's 
duty  to  care  for  the  development  of  the  spiritual  life. 
Were  the  functions  of  the  Church  properly  fulfilled,  it  would 
not  permit  of  an  idle  Christian,  just  as  it  will  not  admit 
of  a  drunken,  a  swearing,  or  a  thieving  Christian.  Each 
member  of  the  Church  ought  to  be  animated  by  the  en- 
thusiasm of  humanity.  You  are  standing  all  the  day  idle, 
waiting  for  some  one  to  hire  you,  when  the  Lord  has  hired 
you  already  ;  you  have  a  heavy  account  to  face.  Your 
ordinary  excuses  are  refuges  of  lies  which  He  will  sweep 
away  in  the  day  of  His  fierce  displeasure.  You  may  creep 
into  heaven,  you  will  not  find  an  abundant  entrance.  If 
it  were  possible  to  engrave  such  a  conception  of  the  Church 
on  every  Christian's  heart  as  this,  to  write  the  thought 
in  letters  of  fire  that  would  burn  up  the  dross  of  selfishness 
and  of  indolence,  this  were  worthy  a  prophet  or  a  prophet's 
song,  and  I  would  dare  foretell  a  long  future  to  England's 
power  and  England's  glory.  Next  to  personal  godliness 
the  best  contribution  is  personal  activity  in  the  Church  of 
Christ.  But  much  more  remains  to  be  accomplished.  We 
have  not  only  to  serve   in  the  ranks,  but  to  pay  the  war 


272  OUTLINES  ON  THE 


tax  to  support  the  soldiers  who  are  working  elsewhere. 
It  was  in  accordance  with  this  idea  that  our  forefathers 
instituted  missions  across  the  sea.  There  were  men  dying 
for  lack  of  knowledge,  and  the  Andrew  Fullers  consulted 
with  the  Careys.  They  did  not  despair,  they  did  not  ask 
"  what  are  these  amongst  so  many,"  or  say  "  it  is  useless 
to  assault  a  citadel  like  that ;  its  inhabitants  are  Anakim, 
while  we  are  but  grasshoppers."  They  besieged  Jericho 
until  the  walls  fell  dow.  Anxiety  for  the  heathen  abroad 
awoke  anxiety  for  the  heathen  at  home.  And  I  would 
remind  you  that  all  the  arguments  which  we  recognise  as 
arguments  of  force  for  Foreign  Missions,  are  true  of  Home 
Missions.  The  master  has  equally  commanded  us  to  both. 
"  Go  out  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  unto 
every  creature."  I  remind  you  that  home — in  a  certain 
sense — home  has  a  prior  claim.  "  Blood  is  thicker  than 
water,"  and  the  proverb  has  a  force  in  the  spiritual  sense 
just  as  it  has  in  the  temporal  sense.  Suppose  that  to 
morrow  we  read  in  our  newspapers  that  a  new  island  had 
been  discovered  in  the  Pacific,  that  every  one  of  the 
people  on  it  were  able  to  speak  the  English  language. 
Englishmen  of  all  characters — drunkards,  criminals,  honest 
men,  decent  and  sober  men  amongst  them — but  that  they 
had  not  got  Christ's  gospel.  They  might  all  be  preached 
to  of  our  Christ's  gospel,  no  new  language,  no  new  book. 
What  a  talk  there  would  be  !  Every  church,  every  drawing 
room,  every  congregation  would  be  full  of  it.  Sirs,  you 
do  not  need  to  go  to  the  Pacific  for  the  realization  of  the 
supposition,  I  tell  you  that  round  about  you,  under  the 
very  sound  of  your  voices,  when  you  come  to  worship  God, 
there  are  men  and  women  speaking  the  English  tongue, 
living  after  English  customs,  who  are  going  down  to  death, 
who  care  not  for  Christ,  who  will  not  live  to  God.  If  by 
any  means  we  can  reach  them,  speak  to  them,  bring  the 
cross  and  the  gospel  to  them,  let  us  be  up  and  doing  and 
succour  the  long  lost  for  the  glory  and  prosperity  of  our 
country.  Evangelize  England  and  you  evangelize  the 
world.  Ask  our  missionaries  who  go  abroad  what  their 
difficulty  is,  and  they  will  tell  you  that  the  scums  of 
civilization  carry  to  their  poor  ignorant  converts  the  deadly 
fire-water.  That  men  who  hold  their  heads  high  at  home, 
are    making    their  fortunes  by   the   sale  of  opium.     That 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  273 

merchants  and  sailors  alike,  when  they  leave  England  too 
often  leave  the  restraints  of  civilization  and  of  Christianity. 
If  we  could  only  evangelize  our  merchants,  and  our  sailors, 
and  our  travellers,  and  our  emigrants,  before  they  leave 
England,  how  soon  would  the  world  be  converted.  As 
the  most  certain,  and  most  effective  way  of  bringing  the 
world  to  Christ,  then,  I  say,  be  true  patriots,  and  bring  the 
gospel  to  the  door  of  every  man  and  every  woman  in 
England. 

J.  A.  M. 


CXXXIII.  The  Restorer  of  Years.  Joel  ii.  25. 
"  And  1 will  restore  to  you  the  years  that  the  locust  hath  eaten, 
the  cankerworm,  a?id  the  cate?'pillar,  and  the  palmerworm,  My 
great  army  which  I  sent  among  you." 

There  is  a  difficulty  which  every  teacher  finds  with  the 
sublimities  of  the  Bible.  It  is  hard  to  take  out  the  honey 
of  a  definite  sense,  and  yet  not  mar  the  bloom  of  inspira- 
tion's loveliness.  There  is  an  attribute  of  God  than  which 
few  can  be  more  comforting,  "  The  restorer  of  years." 
Blessed  faculty  of  omnipotence !  For  who  has  not  to 
lament  over  things  that  are  gone  ?  Who  has  not  behind 
his  back  a  dark  train  of  lost  opportunities  following  after 
him  to  the  day  of  judgment  ? 

Why  are  so  many  things — and  those  the  best  things — why 
are  they  no  more  ?  Hear  God's  answer,  "  The  locust  hath 
eaten  them,  the  cankerworm,  and  the  caterpillar,  and  the 
palmerworm,  My  great  army  which  I  sent  among  you." 
And  the  reason  of  God  sending  "  that  great  army  "  was 
because  your  heart  was  not  right  with  Him,  and  you  did 
not  profit  by,  nor  give  God  glory  in,  His  gifts.  What  does 
"  that  great  army  "  mean  ? 

I.  Little  things  make  God's  great  army  when  He  sets 
them  to  do  His  works.  Who  has  not  learnt  it,  that  it  is 
the  little  things  of  life  which  have  been  his  ruin  ? 

II.  What  mean  these  vast  puny  desolaters,  "the  locust, 
cankerworm,  caterpillar,  and  palmerworm." 

(1)  There  came  in  fourth  the  "palmerworm"  of  the 
world,  with  its  pleasures  that  ate  into  your  spirituality  and 
nipped  the  buds  of  early  promise. 

T 


274  OUTLINES  ON   THE 

(2)  Then  came  the  "  locusts,"  a  thick  swarming  band 
of  the  evil  passions  of  manhood. 

(3)  So  came  the  "cankerworm "  of  the  cares  and 
ambition  of  life. 

(4)  A  little  way  farther  and  there  followed  the  creep- 
ing "caterpillar"  of  insidious  unbelief,  and  life  lay  behind 
you  a  ruin  of  broken  promises,  and  a  waste  of  consumed 
desire. 

III.  It  can  all  be  restored,  the  ruined  can  be  built  up. 
God  will  do  His  own  great  work  as  the  "  restorer  of  years  " 
if  only  you  are  willing.  If  the  evil  spirit  returns  seven- 
fold to  the  empty  house,  will  not  the  good  Spirit  come 
back  seven-fold — ay,  seventy-fold — to  a  man  in  whose 
heart  Christ  is  ?  Never  forget  to  see  this  in  the  atonement, 
and  be  careful  to  inscribe  upon  the  cross  of  Jesus,  as  one 
of  the  highest  of  its  titles,  "  A  restorer  of  years." 

J.V. 

CXXXIV.  Pleasing  God.  Micah  vi.  6-8.  "  Wherewith 
shall  I  co?ne  before  the  L"rd,  and  bow  myself  before  the  high 
God  ?  shall  I  come  before  Him  with  burnt-offerings,  with  calves 
of  a  year  old  ?  Will  the  Lord  be  pleased  with  thousands  of 
rams,  or  with  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of  oil?  shall  I  give  my 
firstborn  for  my  transgression,  the  fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin 
of  my  soul  ?  He  hath  showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good ;  a?id 
what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love 
mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ?  " 

THIS  is  indeed  a  momentous  question,  and  many  and 
various  have  been  the  answers  to  it.  In  spirit  and  principle 
they  reduce  themselves  to  the  three  which,  in  these  verses, 
are  tacitly  rejected,  that  the  fourth  may  be  established  for 
all  time. 

I.  Shall  I  do  some  outward  acts  to  please  God  ?  Men 
are  ever  tempted  to  believe  in  the  virtue  of  doing  some- 
thing ;  to  ask,  as  they  often  asked  our  Lord,  "  What  shall  I 
do  to  inherit  eternal  life  ?  " 

External  observances  and  good  works  without  inward 
holiness  are  displeasing  to  God. 

II.  Can  we  please  God  by  giving?  Will  the  Lord  be 
pleased    with    thousands   of    rams  ?       Shall    we,    like    the 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  275 

pagans,  try  to  bribe  God  ?  While  none  of  us  is  so  ignorant 
as  not  to  know  the  duty  of  charity,  none  of  us  is  so  foolish 
as  to  imagine  that  he  can  by  gifts  win  his  way  one  step 
nearer  to  the  great  white  throne. 

III.  Shall  I  try  to  please  God  by  suffering?  This,  too, 
has  been  fearfully  attempted,  and  more  persistently  than 
any  other,  because  in  all  ages  men  have  invested  God  with 
the  attributes  of  terror  and  of  wrath.  Can  we  judge  of  God 
when  He  looms  dark  and  terrible  through  the  crimson  mist 
of  haunted  consciences  and  guilty  hearts  ?  No  ;  when  men 
have  been  able  only  to  regard  Him  thus,  then  all  the  day 
long  His  terrors  have  they  suffered. 

IV.  What  is  the  prophet's  answer  to  the  question  ?  If 
not  by  doing,  not  by  giving,  not  by  suffering,  then  how  ? 
By  being.  But  by  being  what  ?  By  being  just  and 
merciful  and  humble  before  our  God.  This  is  what  God 
requires,  and  thus  alone  can  we  live  acceptably  to  Him,  for 
this  is  to  live  in  Christ.  In  Him  was  justice  fulfilled  ;  in 
Him  was  mercy  consummated.  God  needs  not  our  ser- 
vices, He  needs  not  our  gifts,  least  of  all  does  He  need  our 
anguish  ;  but  He  needs  us,  our  hearts,  our  lives,  our  love. 
He  needs  it,  and  even  this  He  gives  us,  shedding  abroad 
the  spirit  of  adoption  in  our  hearts. 

F.  W.  K. 


CXXXV.      The     Vision    made    Plain.      Hab.   ii.   2. 

'•''And  the  Lord  answered  7?ie,  and  said,   Write  the  vision  and 
make  it  plain  upon  tables,  that  he  may  run  that  readeth  it." 

The  attitude  of  the  prophet  is  one  of  very  earnest 
expectation  and  waiting  for  the  Divine  will,  and  he  had 
a  very  earnest  and  practical  desire  to  carry  out  that  will 
so  far  as  he  might  be  enabled  to  do  it.  That  is  the  spirit 
that  always  has  been  and  always  will  be  honoured  of  God. 
We  all  feel  that  it  is  what  we  should  be  distinguished  by 
in  all  matters  pertaining  to  our  every-day  life  ;  for  in  all 
our  ways  we  are  to  acknowledge  God,  that  He  might  direct 
our  paths  ;  and  in  regard  to  more  immediate  Christian  work 
and  religious  endeavour  among  those  who  know  not  the 
Lord,  it  is  especially  important  that  it  should  be  so. 

I.  Let  us  notice  the  way  in  which  it  is  the  will  of  God 


276  OUTLINES  ON  THE 


that  the  revelation  of  His  truth  shall  be  made  known. 
He  has  declared  that  it  shall  be  written :  "  Write  the 
vision."  It  is  in  accordance  with  this  that  we  have  the 
Divine  book  of  the  revelation  of  God's  word  guaranteed 
to  us  with  the  evidence  of  Divine  inspiration  in  every 
page  of  it,  and  proving  in  itself  the  Divine  proof  of  its 
authority,  and  the  Divine  pledge  of  its  ultimate  triumph. 
We  thank  God  for  all  the  gifts  of  His  creation,  the  Ljunties 
of  His  providence,  and  the  blessings  of  His  grace  ;  but 
when  we  come  to  turn  to  the  book  of  Divine  truth  we 
say,  "  Thanks  be  to  God  for  His  unspeakable  gift." 

II.  We  notice  that  God  would  have  His  will  plainly 
revealed.  "  Make  it  plain."  How  full  of  condescension 
and  grace  is  this  !  We  find  it  so  in  all  God's  material 
works.  They  are  open  to  the  observation  even  of  the 
illiterate  and  unlearned  ;  and  for  those  who  cannot  pene- 
trate into  their  mysteries  or  fully  appreciate  their  glories, 
they  are  plain  enough  to  fill  the  most  uncultivated  mind 
with  an  appreciation  that  shall  be  full  of  pleasure,  profit, 
and  joy.  There  is  nothing  mean,  nothing  common,  nothing 
that  is  not  adapted  to  lift  the  soul  up  in  meditation  upon 
God.  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the 
firmament  showeth  forth  His  handiwork."  Nature  with 
open  volume  stands  to  spread  her  Maker's  name  abroad, 
and  every  labour  of  her  hand  shows  something  worthy  of 
a  God.  You  will  find  this  same  thing  running  through  all 
the  arrangements  symbolized  in  the  dispensation  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  realized  in  the  New.  Take  the  cities 
of  refuge  as  an  instance.  They  were  all  to  be  plain,  not 
to  be  mistaken.  Just  in  the  same  way  about  the  King's 
highway  abounding  in  wonders  and  mysteries  that  all  the 
angelic  intellect  of  all  eternity  cannot  comprehend,  and 
bearing  the  pilgrims  who  walk  in  it  every  day  into  grace 
which  is  already  glory.  We  find  our  Lord  giving  thanks 
to  the  Father  that  He  had  "  hidden  these  things  from  the 
wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed  them  unto  babes."  There 
was  what  the  Saviour  looked  upon  with  complacency,  and 
what  we  may  think  upon  with  gratitude. 

The  Gospel  is  unfathomable  in  its  depth,  but  transparent 
in  its  clearness  nevertheless.  In  the  plainness  with  which 
it  is  revealed  to  us  we  see  the  Divine  wisdom  and  grace 
of  our  God,  and  we  can  only  say  with  adoring  gratitude, 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  277 

tf  Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  Thy  sight." 
It  becomes  all  who  have  to  tell  of  the  Gospel  to  others,  to 
do  it  in  the  .^p'rit  that  is  enjoined  in  the  prophet  by  the 
Lord,  "  Write  the  vision  and  make  it  plain." 

III.  Notice  that  the  vision  was  to  be  written  in  a  form  so 
striking  and  impressive  "  that  he  may  run  who  readeth  it." 
Not  as  this  passage  is  generally  misquoted  "  that  he  who 
runs  may  read."  The  message  is  to  be  so  plain  and  so 
striking  that  the  man  who  sees  it  shall  run  in  a  moment 
to  escape  the  evil  of  which  it  warns  him,  or  to  seek  the 
blessing  of  which  it  tells  him.  There  is  an  intimation  of 
what  is  much  needed  now-a-days.  We  are  too  much  afraid 
of  anything  like  "  sensation  "  in  religion.  The  fear  is  that 
we  may  sink  into  its  opposite  extreme,  and  lose  all  life 
in  the  fear  of  being  considered  in  any  way  victims  of 
sensation.  The  tidings  of  the  Gospel,  instead  of  being 
reduced  to  the  mere  common-place  platitudes  that  we 
sometimes  hear,  should  be  spoken  and  lived  out  in  such  a 
way  that  all  might  run  that  read  it. 

J.  P.  C. 


CXXXVI.  High  Places.  Hab.  Hi.  19.  "  The  Lord  God 
is  my  strength,  and  He  will  make  my  feet  like  hi/ids'  feet,  and 
He  will  make  me  to  walk  upon  mine  high  places" 

"  High  places "  are  just  the  best  things  in  life  and 
experience,  those  which  lift  a  man  up  to  God.  Let  us 
consider  some  of  these  "  high  places  "  up  which  God  makes 
His  people  walk. 

I.  A  mount  of  vision.  On  a  mountain  we  generally  see 
more  clearly  than  at  a  lower  elevation.  Are  there  not 
seasons  when  we  get  clear  views  of  Divine  truth,  when  they 
appear  in  a  new  glory  ?  True,  the  revelation  is  made — it 
is  all  in  the  book.  But  so  is  the  landscape  all  laid  down. 
Yet  unless  your  feet  ascend  the  high  places,  it  is  as  though 
it  were  not  there.  So  the  revelation  is  in  the  book,  but  it 
is  not  in  the  soul.  You  must  get  up  the  mount  of  vision. 
For  this  you  must  labour,  and  it  is  worth  it.  There  is  as 
much  difference  between  the  man  who  gains  a  bright,  clear 
view  of  truth,  and  the  man  who  never  rises  to  it,  as  between 
an  ordinary  man  and  a  man  of  genius.      Genius  has  been 


278  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

defined  as  "  an  infinite  capacity  for  taking  trouble."  If  we 
would  have  a  clear,  bright  view  of  things  we  must  take 
trouble  to  climb  the  heights  whence  it  may  be  gained. 
We  must  keep  the  things  in  mind,  and  in  their  connections 
we  must  keep  them  in  serene  contemplation.  Two  men 
look  at  the  same  Scripture  :  the  one  sees  little  in  it — to  the 
other  it  is  all  bright  and  glorious  ;  for  that  man  has  been 
on  the  mount  of  vision. 

II.  The  mount  of  faith.  On  "high  places"  we  see 
things  at  farthest  distance,  and  so  we  may  speak  of  the 
mount  of  faith.     These  things  come  into  sight. 

On  "high  places"  not  only  is  there  nothing  to  come 
between  you  and  the  object  gazed  upon,  but  looking 
through  a  rarefied  atmosphere  there  is  the  least  possible 
obstruction  to  the  vision.  Moses  on  the  heights  of  Pisgah 
saw  the  goodly  land  of  promise  spread  out  before  him. 

It  is  a  beautiful  type  of  faith.  There  is  a  Pisgah  every- 
where now,  and  we  may  ascend  it  when  we  will.  Gazing 
upon  the  land  which  lies  across  the  "  narrow  stream "  a 
man  may  take  out  his  title-deeds  and  contemplate  his 
possessions.  You  have  all  in  God.  "  All  things  are  yours," 
because  ye  are  God's.  And  to  say  you  are  God's  is  but 
another  way  of  saying  God  is  yours. 

This  claiming  God  is  faith's  highest  exercise,  faith's 
noblest  act.  And  God  is  more  than  time  and  space — more 
than  all  contained  within  time  and  space. 

In  the  picture  the  prophet's  fancy  draws  in  this  psalm, 
he  sees  the  fig  trees  without  blossom,  the  vines  without 
fruit,  the  fields  yielding  no  crops,  the  fields  without  flocks, 
and  the  stalls  without  herds.  Yet  the  Lord  is  more  to 
him  than  all  these,  and  so  he  can  rejoice  in  Him.  Having 
God  a  man  has  all. 

III.  In  "  high  places"  men  breathe  more  freely.  So 
pure  and  exhilarating  is  the  rarefied  air  that  it  produces 
a  kind  of  intoxication.  So  it  is  with  the  soul.  "  Be  not 
drunk  with  wine  wherein  is  excess,  but  be  filled  with  the 
Spirit." 

Drink  in  the  quickening,  inspiring  influence  of  the  Spirit. 
"  Yield  yourselves  to  God."  "  If  you  live  in  the  Spirit, 
walk  in  the  Spirit."     Be  spiritually-minded. 

This  pure  spirit-life,  so  high  and  blessed,  what  is  it  ?  It 
is  our  own  proper  life.     If  we  can  only  come  to   live  it,  it 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  279 

is  the  easiest  and  most  natural  of  all  life.  God's  natural 
man  as  He  made  him,  lived  that  life.  Redeemed  man  is 
to  be  brought  back  to  it.  In  its  best  moments  the  redeemed 
life  seems  to  enter  Eden  once  more,  the  "  feet  are  swift 
as  hind's  feet,"  and  God  makes  the  man  to  walk  on  his 
"  high  places." 

IV.  This,  finally,  is  up  the  pathway  of  a  free,  steadfast, 
joyous  obedience. 

On  the  heights  of  a  mountain  a  man  can  do  more  than 
on  the  low  places  of  ordinary  life.  He  becomes  a  wonder 
to  himself.  He  can  walk  so  far  and  resist  fatigue  so,  that 
he  seems  to  renew  his  youth. 

This  is  an  image  and  expression  of  a  similar  fact  in  the 
spiritual  life.  God  makes  a  man's  feet  like  "  hinds'  feet," 
and  lifts  him  up  to  the  "  high  places  of  an  easy  obedience. 
It  comes  to  this  at  length.  At  first,  when  he  began,  there 
was  little  of  the  "  hinds'  feet,"  there  was  more  of  the 
elephantine  tread.  By-and-by  there  was  the  horse-like 
movement,  which  though  lighter  is  often  arrested  by  the 
little  hills.  It  may  be  a  good  while  before  we  see  the 
"  hinds'  feet,"  but  we  may  all  get  them  if  we  will.  They 
are  not  got  supernaturally,  but  by  the  ordinary  "  means  of 
grace."     You  may  get  them  in  common  life. 

Men  have  been  likened  to  different  animals  and  creatures, 
and  in  a  great  city  you  may  meet  with  persons  who  have 
the  likeness  of  almost  every  animal  and  creature  there  is. 
Man's  nature  may  resemble  that  of  the  lion,  the  tiger,  the 
wolf,  the  sloth,  the  mole,  the  serpent ;  but  thanks  be  to 
God  for  the  nobler  resemblances  in  men  to  the  doves  in 
their  windows,  to  the  eagles  in  the  rocks,  to  the  hart  on 
the  mountain,  and  to  the  "  hinds'  feet."  How  many 
instances  of  ready,  cheerful  obedience  are  to  be  met  with 
in  city  life.  The  "hinds'  feet"  are  found  in  the  ware- 
house, in  the  lanes  of  the  city,  in  sickrooms,  in  all  the 
various  walks  of  life. 

A.  R. 


280  OUTLINES   ON  THE 


CXXXVII.     The    Spirit   of  God   the    Strength   of 

the  Church.     Zech.  iv.  6.     "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power, 
but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts." 

THE  Prophet  Zechariah  lived  at  a  very  important  crisis  of 
Jewish  history.  God  in  His  mercy  had  visited  His  people, 
and  they  had  been  allowed  to  return  from  exile.  A  great 
national  enthusiasm  has  been  enkindled,  and  every  hand  is 
occupied  in  repairing  the  old  waste  places,  and  rearing 
afresh  the  ruined  walls  of  the  Temple.  Prince  Zerubbabel 
is  foremost  in  this  work,  and  the  words  of  the  text  are 
sent  by  God  to  encourage  him  in  his  work.  This  whole 
book  points  forward  to  the  spiritual  temple  which  was  to 
be  reared  in  after  days  by  the  true  Zerubbabel,  the  Lord 
Jesus,  the  Holy  Building  of  which  every  Christian  is  in- 
tended to  be  a  living  stone. 

I.  We  find  in  the  text  the  statement  of  a  fact.  It  is 
now  a  matter  of  history  that  the  Church's  rise  and  progress 
cannot  be  ascribed  to  human  agencies.  The  strength  of 
the  infant  Church  was  derived  from  the  unseen  presence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  So  Christianity  spread.  So  century 
after  century  in  its  own  despite  has  the  world  been  .used 
as  the  scaffolding  with  which  to  rear  this  spiritual  temple. 
So  although  the  oracles  of  Greece  are  dumb,  and  Rome's 
most  costly  shrines  are  crumbling  into  dust,  the  religion 
which  was  founded  by  peasants  of  Galilee  has  for  ages 
retained  the  allegiance  of  the  most  civilized  nations  of  the 
world.  "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  My  Spirit, 
saith  the  Lord." 

II.  From  this  fact  we  derive  much  comfort  for  the 
future. 

(i)  As  concerns  the  Church  at  large.  Let  the  Holy 
Ghost  be  duly  honoured  in  the  Church,  and  be  allowed  to 
rule  in  it,  and  it  will  prosper.  He  who  laid  the  foundation 
stone  on  the  blood-stained  heights  of  Calvary  shall  com- 
plete the  fabric  amid  the  overpowering  glory  of  the  Second 
Advent. 

(2)  As  concerns  the  individual  behaviour.  Whatever  be 
the  difficulties  and  disappointments  of  the  spiritual  life  by 
which  you  are  cast  down  and  disheartened,  if  only  you  will 
act  upon  the  principle  of  the  text  you  shall  forge  out  of 
these  very  trials  a    Divine  arrow,  by  which  Satan  shall  be 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  2S1 

pierced  through  and  through.  Be  strong,  not  in  yourself, 
not  in  your  clergyman,  but  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the  power 
of  His  might.  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  joy.  Uplifted 
by  the  Spirit  you  shall  look  away  from  self  to  Jesus.  That 
is  the  secret  of  joy. 

G.  H.  W. 


CXXXVIII.    The  Day  of  Small  Things.    Zech.  iv.  10. 
"  For  who  hath  despised  the  day  o/sma//  things  ?" 

LOOK  at  these  words  in  different  applications,  different 
connections. 

I.  First  for  application  to  common,  secular  or  natural 
facts.  "  For  who  hath  despised  the  day  of  small  things?  " 
Not  you  tradesmen,  you  say  that  pence  makes  pounds  ; 
and  not  lawyers,  for  they  know  the  power  of  the  littles 
at  any  rate  ;  and  not  medical  men,  for  they  know  that 
the  question  of  a  grain  or  a  drop  is  often  a  question  of 
life  or  death  ;  and  not  the  scholar,  for  the  scholar  knows 
that  all  scholarship  must  begin  with  ABC;  and  not  the 
politician,  for  every  one  who  knows  the  working  of  politics 
knows  that,  generally  speaking,  great  doors  turn  on  small 
hinges.  Intelligence  watches  the  work  of  God, — "  Who  hath 
measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  His  hand,  and  meted 
out  heaven  with  the  span,  and  comprehended  the  dust  of 
the  earth  in  a  measure,  and  weighed  the  mountains  in 
scales,  and  the  hills  in  a  balance,"  and  of  whom  it  is  said 
— "  Behold,  the  nations  are  as  the  drop  of  a  bucket,  and 
are  counted  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance :  behold,  He 
taketh  up  the  isles  as  a  very  little  thing,"—  and  sees  that 
Being,  so  great  that  all  the  universe  is  but  a  type  of  His 
power,  is  always  showing  His  character  in  little  things. 
And  intelligence  watches  the  process  and  sees  how  that 
great  Being  who  counts  the  isles  as  a  very  little  thing, 
has  crowded  every  leaf  with  millions  of  lives  if  they  could 
but  be  discerned.  The  more  we  look  into  the  life  that 
teems  in  a  little  leaf  the  more  do  we  grasp  the  idea  that 
there  is  still  more  life  there. 

He  it  is  who  touches  with  all  the  colours  of  the  rainbow 
and  the  fire  of  the  sun  the  wings  of  the  little  insects  who 
are  born  in  the  morning  and   die  in  the  day.     He  does 


282  OUTLINES  ON  THE 

not  despise  little  things,  and  how  can  we  do  so  who 
delight  in  His  work  ?  Not  a  little  blade  of  grass,  not  a 
little  leaf  wavering  in  the  still  air,  not  a  bird  on  the  bough 
but  show  forth  the  glory  of  the  Lord  ;  and  riot  only  the 
towering  tree  in  Lebanon,  but  also  the  hyssop  cometh 
from  the  Lord  who  is  wonderful  in  counsel  and  excellent 
in  working. 

Who  can  despise  the  day  of  small  things  ?  Any  Chris- 
tian ?  Oh !  no,  if  he  understands  himself.  "  Nature  is 
Christian,"  says  Bishop  Home.  "Yes,  Bishop,"  we  say, 
"nature  is  Christian  to  Christian  men."  If  any  man  be 
in  Christ  he  has  a  new  character,  and  creation  is  a  new 
creation.  Old  things  have  passed  away  ;  all  things  have 
become  new.  Nature  has  nothing  to  say  about  the  things 
of  Calvary  until  we  have  looked  at  Calvary,  and  then  it 
is  full  of  them,  and  we  learn  that  our  Father  cares  for  us. 
Do  not  think  this  an  unpractical,  unsentimental  thought. 
There  are  times  when  we  should  be  overpowered  and  ask, 
"  Can  God  take  any  notice  of  me  ? "  times  when,  having 
looked  at  the  silent  magnificence  of  night,  each  of  us 
would  be  ready  to  say,  "  God  can  have  no  time  to  think 
about  me."  But  Jesus  says,  "  look  at  the  small  things  ;  " 
and  you  notice  that  when  He  calls  attention  to  nature 
He  calls  attention  to  small  things,  to  little  birds  and  little 
flowers  and  the  very  hairs  of  your  head.  God  forbid  that 
we  should  despise  the  day  of  small  things.  If  any  one  here 
looks  at  God's  work  in  nature,  and  in  reference  to  things 
that  occur  in  the  sphere  of  nature  says,  "  Who  hath  des- 
pised the  day  of  small  things  ? "  then  let  him  come  up 
and  speak  for  himself,  or  rather  hear  what  God  has  to  say 
for  him. 

II.  Now  next  apply  these  words  to  the  historical  con- 
nection that  called  them  forth — Zerubbabel  laying  the 
foundation  of  the  Second  Temple.  It  was  a  new  day 
when  he  did  it.  In  Scripture  poetry  the  time  of  joy  is 
spoken  of  as  the  day,  and  the  time  of  sorrow  as  the 
night.  The  Jews  had  had  a  night  of  seventy-one  years, 
when  Jerusalem  sat  in  gloom  ;  a  night  when  she  looked 
in  vain  for  her  children,  for  they  had  been  carried  into 
captivity,  and  all  her  glory  had  lain  in  the  grave.  But 
there  came  a  turning  time,  there  was  just  a  twinkle  of 
dawn,  and  devout  Jews  were  able  to  say,  "  see  that,"  to 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  283 


the  secular  Jews  ;  and  the  latter  would  answer,  "  Call  that 
a  day  ?  If  a  day  at  all  it  is  a  day  of  small  things."  When 
the  emperors,  unconscious  instruments  of  God,  gave  the 
Jews  permission  to  return,  it  was  a  day  of  small  things, 
and  some  despised  it,  while  others  were  ready  to  say, 
"  Our  souls  are  filled  with  a  dawn  of  light."  When  the 
first  detachment  went  out,  those  who  were  worldly  wise 
said  it  was  a  day  of  small  things.  About  50,000  went 
out  under  Zerubbabel,  while  as  many  as  600,000  went  out 
from  Egypt.  There  were  many  persons  among  them  who 
had  no  stake  in  the  country,  and  as  men  look  up  to  men 
of  money,  men  of  weight  looked  at  these  men  with  simple 
contempt.  However,  they  went  out  and  travelled  on  as 
far  as  the  city  of  their  fathers'  sepulchres  ;  but  even  there 
they  met  those  who  despised  them  and  their  doings.  They 
went  to  the  city  of  stones  with  the  hatchet  and  the  pick 
to  overcome  the  difficulties  of  building  the  city.  It  was 
hard  to  suffer  from  the  sarcastic  silence  of  their  pretended 
friends,  and  the  sarcastic  speech  of  their  foes.  It  would 
have  been  strange  if  amongst  the  followers  of  Zerubbabel 
some  had  not  wavered.  But  the  word  of  the  Lord 
came  saying,  "  The  hands  of  Zerubbabel  have  laid  the 
foundation  of  this  house  ;  his  hands  shall  also  finish  it  ; 
and  thou  shalt  know  that  the  Lord  of  Hosts  hath  sent 
me  unto  you.  For  who  hath  despised  the  day  of  small 
things  ?  " 

It  seemed  to  be  a  very  unpromising  enterprise  just 
then  ;  but  another  prophet  had  said,  "  The  glory  of  the 
latter  house  shall  be  greater  than  the  former."  That 
temple  which  seemed  to  be  glory  in  the  air,  filling  the 
lookers-on  with  a  pang  of  wonder — to  be  greater  than 
that  ?  Not  greater  in  glory  on  this  account,  but  because 
the  Lord  of  the  temple  should  stand  there,  the  Lord  to 
whom  in  past  ages  all  sacrifice  pointed,  He  Himself 
should  stand  there — glory  itself  should  stand  there,  and 
when  the  building  shall  be  completed  it  shall  be  no  longer 
wanted,  for  the  glory  shall  have  come. 

III.  Let  us  proceed  in  the  third  place  to  apply  this 
question  or  proverb  to  Christ,  and  the  foundation  of  His 
Church.  That  Church  has  small  beginnings.  When  the 
foundation  of  the  temple  was  completed  Zerubbabel  set 
forth  Christ,  and  the  whole  building  of  the  temple   set 


*S4  OUTLINES   GN  THE 

forth  the  building  of  the  Church.  If  it  had  not  been 
typical  we  could  not  understand  why  so  much  notice  is 
taken  of  it  in  the  Bible.  The  builder  himself  was  a  great 
man  lineally,  the  descendant  of  the  son  of  David  ;  but  he 
was  greater  typically,  for  he  set  forth  Christ  and  Christ's 
work  :  "  Behold  the  man  whose  name  is  the  Branch ;  and 
he  shall  grow  up  out  of  his  place,  and  he  shall  build  the 
temple  of  the  Lord.  Even  he  shall  build  the  temple  of 
the  Lord  ;  and  he  shall  bear  the  glory  and  shall  sit  and 
rule  upon  his  throne ;  and  he  shall  be  a  priest  upon  his 
throne  ;  and  the  counsel  of  peace  shall  be  between  them 
both."  This  double  idea  was  shadowed  forth  by  the  man 
and  the  building.  There  is  no  incongruity.  Jesus  speaks 
of  Himself  as  at  once  the  builder  and  the  foundation  of 
what  He  built ;  but  there  was  a  time  when  it  was  a  day 
of  small  things  in  the  history  of  the  builder.  See  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Infant  of  Days,  the  little  one.  Small  hands — 
but  they  were  to  grow  until  they  grasped  the  sceptre. 
Small  feet — but  which  would  grow  and  would  walk  upon 
the  waters  and  would  be  nailed  by  cruel  men  to  the  cross. 
The  small  voice  which  was  heard  from  that  rough  stable 
was  to  still  the  tempest  and  raise  the  dead.  This  infant 
became  the  man,  and  the  man  became  the  Crucified  One, 
and  when  it  was  done  He  said  "  It  is  finished,"  and  in 
that  act  He  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Church.  Foun- 
dation !  it  was  only  laying  the  beginning  ;  but  when  that 
is  finished,  when  the  top-stone  is  brought  forth  with  joy, 
then  who  will  despise  the  day  of  small  things,  who  will 
despise  that  Church,  that  mystical,  spiritual,  ineffably 
glorious  structure  which,  when  finished  for  eternity,  shall 
call  forth  joys  and  deeper  joy,  and  strokes  of  grander 
music,  than  were  ever  heard  when  the  morning  stars  sang 
together  and  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy  over  the 
temple  of  Creation  ? 

The  Church  has  had  its  day  of  small  things,  and  has 
not  quite  got  out  of  the  small  things  yet,  but  let  none 
here  be  found  among  those  who  despise  the  day  of  small 
things.  Who  can  slop  the  day,  and  who  can  in  the  weak- 
ness of  the  Church  keep  it  from  advancing  to  perfection  ? 
Apply  this  also  to  the  history  of  each  individual  Christian 
life.  Oh,  it  is  a  day  of  small  things  for  us  individually, 
for  me  and   for  you  !     Small  things   what  we   call   faith, 


OLD   TESTAMENT.  285 

hope,  and  charity  :  small  prayers,  small  spirituality.  Talk 
about  matter  under  a  microscope  ! — we  must  go  under  the 
microscope  sometimes  for  the  Divine  growths  to  be  seen  ; 
but  it  will  go  on,  and  shall  any  man  despise  it  ?  It  is  not 
necessary  for  us  to  go  from  the  first  step  to  the  second  in 
one  sudden  stroke  of  miraculous  enlargement.  The  flower 
never  comes  out  of  the  unseen — scarcely  unseen — seed  all 
in  a  moment,  and  grace  does  not  come  up  in  a  moment ; 
you  have  to  grow  in  grace,  and  is  not  this  a  comfort  ?  But 
this  should  not  be  a  comfort  to  make  us  indolent  or  to 
relax  our  efforts,  but  to  make  us  grow.  Let  us  not  only 
in  ourselves  but  in  others  apply  this  principle,  and  if  we 
have  grace  in  us  we  are  apt  to  think  of  others.  When  we 
find  Christians — Ready-to-halts  and  Much-af raids — let  us 
keep  this  in  mind  :  "  For  who  hath  despised  the  day  of 
small  things  ? " 

It  is  an  application  of  the  principle  of  Christ :  "  Take 
heed  that  ye  despise  not  one  of  these  little  ones."  He 
speaks  of  poor  Christians  as  little  children  who  need  so 
much  care,  and  such  a  wealth  of  love  and  patience  from 
those  who  have  to  deal  with  them.  We  are  not  to  despise 
in  them  or  in  ourselves  the  day  of  small  things.  God  is 
one  in  nature  and  in  grace.  He  never  stops  and  leaves 
a  thing  half  finished  ;  that  which  He  has  begun  He 
will  carry  on.  Then  who  shall  despise  the  day  of  small 
things?  Apply  these  things  to  Christian  privileges.  I 
am  afraid  we  Christians  are  not  where  we  ought  to  be, 
because  we  depise  these  things  we  have.  Some  walk  with 
sorrowful  feelings  from  the  gloom  to  the  glory  :  they  are 
just  able  to  bear  with  the  present.  If  that  is  so  are  not 
we  despising,  as  small  things,  those  which  are  not  small 
things  except  in  comparison  with  the  coming  infinities  ? 
We  get  this  idea  perhaps  from  men  of  the  world.  They 
know  Christians  who  say  "  we  are  passing  through  tribu- 
lation to  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  ;"  they  hear  some  warrior 
of  the  Christian  faith  say  *•  O  wretched  man  that  I  am  ! 
who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?  "  and 
then  they  hear  other  Christians  speaking  as  if  they  can 
just  go  on — as  if  they  were  bound  to  be  content  and  give 
up  what  they  would  like  to  have  of  the  pleasures  of  the 
world.  Christians  get  the  same  notions,  get  it  from  the 
air  they  breathe,   from  the  world,  and  consequently  they 


286  OUTLINES   ON  THE 

get  to  underrate  their  privileges.  I  do  so,  and  perhaps 
you  also  do.  Is  it  a  small  thing  to  have  the  stone  with 
a  new  name  written  upon  it ;  is  it  a  small  thing  to  have 
the  privileges  we  have  ;  is  it  a  small  thing  to  have  access 
always  to  the  mercy-seat ;  is  it  a  small  thing  to  have  an 
earnest  of  the  inheritance  ;  is  it  a  small  thing  when  our 
cares  press  upon  us,  and  we  are  ashamed  to  speak  about 
them  to  mortal  ear,  that  we  are  welcome  to  speak  about 
them  to  the  Ancient  of  Days  ?  Strangers  may  come  unto 
the  King  on  days  of  ceremony,  but  the  children  can  always 
go  to  the  Father. 

Let  us  not  despise  small  things.  They  are  small  in 
comparison  with  the  things  we  shall  have,  but  in  them- 
selves they  are  great.  We  have  the  privilege  of  telling 
God  the  tiny  things  ;  these  are  not  things  to  be  slighted, 
and  when  we  also  remember  that  these  small  privileges, 
as  you  call  them,  are  but  the  leaves  of  a  great  forest,  the 
dawnings  of  an  everlasting  day,  who  can,  recollecting  these 
things,  despise  the  day  of  small  things  ? 

Can  I  apply  this  to  acts  of  Christian  obedience?  Some- 
times I  find  persons  making  an  artificial  distinction  between 
great  things  and  small  things  in  God's  commandments.  I 
find  that  they  make  no  difficulty  in  being  themselves  those 
who  are  to  decide  the  question  of  great  and  small  with 
reference  to  those  things  in  God's  law  of  grace.  I  find  that 
they  speak  about  things  "essential,"  and  things  "non- 
essential." I  find  that  Christian  men  and  women  after 
hearing  what  Christ  has  said  choose  those  things  which 
they  call  essential,  and  slight  those  things  which  are  not 
to  their  taste  ! 

Apply  this  also  to  service.  We  are  called  to  service — 
the  service  of  our  King — and  every  Christian  is  as  much  a 
servant  of  Christ  as  was  Paul  who  wrote  with  pride  that 
title  after  his  name,  "  Paul,  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ." 
Oh,  does  it  not  amaze  you  to  find  how  much  unemployed 
faculty  there  is  in  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  because 
many  who  are  ordained  servants  of  Jesus  Christ  keep  back 
from  doing  anything  until  they  can  do  something  great  ? 
Some  because  they  have  not  great  things  to  give,  give 
nothing.  Some  who  have  no  difficulty  in  works  of  self- 
denial  shrink  from  doing  anything  because  it  is  con- 
spicuous.    Life  is   made   up   of  small  things,  little  things 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  287 


of  truth,  little  things  of  spiritual  life,  little  things  of  ten- 
derness and  persuasiveness.  Let  each  one  begin  with  the 
little  thing  which  comes  nearest  if  we  are  to  do  great 
things  in  the  great  strength  of  the  great  Saviour,  having 
served  our  apprenticeship  in  doing  the  small  things. 

C.  S. 


CXXXIX.  The  Christian  Life.  Zech.  xiv.  6,  7.  "And 
it  shall  come  to  pass  i?i  that  day,  that  the  night  shall  not  be  clear, 
nor  dark :  but  it  shall  be  one  day  which  shall  be  known  to  the 
Lord,  not  day,  nor  night:  but  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  at  even- 
ing time  it  shall  be  light." 

THESE  verses  present  us  with  a  most  suggestive  descrip- 
tion of  human  history  as  a  whole,  and  of  each  true  godly 
life  in  that  history.  Let  us  consider  the  subject  in  its 
individual  aspect.     We  have  here  : — 

I.  The  mixed  character  of  our  earthly  life.  "  The  light 
shall  not  be  clear,  nor  dark  ; "  and  again,  "  It  shall  be  one 
day,  not  day,  nor  night."  That  is  to  say,  the  lot  even  of  a 
good  man  is  checkered.  Every  height  has  its  hollow.  And 
each  earthly  blessing  has  its  accompanying  and  rectifying 
affliction.  But  no  Christian  is  ever  in  absolute  darkness. 
If  the  rough  wind  be  blowing  on  him,  God  will  take  care 
that  it  be  not  also  from  the  east. 

We  can  all  see  more  or  less  that  through  the  trials  of 
the  past  God  has  disciplined  us  into  fitness  for  present 
duties.  Present  trials  are  the  prophecies  of  future  effici- 
ency. Again  we  often  see  that  our  trials  are  frequently 
connected  with  our  sins.  Evil  deeds  are  evil  seeds  which 
produce  a  harvest  of  bitterness  which  is  a  continual  afflic- 
tion to  us.  Again,  our  trials  lead  us  to  long  for  heaven, 
and  wean  us  from  the  world. 

II.  The  Christian's  solace  and  support  under  this  mixed 
experience.  "  It  shall  be  one  day  which  shall  be  known 
unto  the  Lord." 

(1)  Our  condition  is  known  unto  the  Lord. 

(2)  Our  lot  is  ordered  for  us  by  Jehovah. 

III.  The  happy  termination  of  this  mixed  state  of 
things  to  the  Christian.     "  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that 


OUTLINES   ON  THE   OLD    TESTAMENT. 


at  evening  time  it  shall  be  light."  Relief  shall  come  when 
it  is  least  expected.  Light  is  the  synonym  for  joy,  for 
purity,  for  knowledge.  In  heaven  all  the  elements  of 
darkness  shall  be  absent.     It  shall  be  light. 

W.  M.  T. 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Abraham's     Seed,     Blessing 

Through,  10. 
Achor,  The  Valley  of,  266. 
Acquaintance  with  God,  97. 
Aged,  The  Cry  of  the,  121. 
Appeal,  A  Divine,  248. 
Appeal,  A  Threefold,  214. 
Authority,  262. 

Battlements,  244. 
Benediction,  The,  35. 
Benedictions  of  Life,  The,  60. 
Book,  The  Sealed,  191. 
Broken  Purposes,  94. 

Calf,  The  Golden,  28. 
Children,  The  Training  of,  24. 
Christ,  Prophecy  of,  95. 
Christ,  The  Silence  of,  221. 
Christian  Life,  The,  287. 
Christianity,  The  Origin  of,  213. 
Christianity,  The  Spread  of,  140. 
Clouds,  Regarding  the,  163. 
Comfort,  A  Message  of,  197. 
Commandments,  The   Finality  of 

the  Ten,  49. 
Courage,  55. 

Covenant  of  Joshua,  The,  59. 
Creation,  The,  1. 
Creator  of  Man,  The,  4. 

Day  of  Small  Things,  The,  281". 
Day  which  the  Lord  hath  Made, 

The,  145. 
Deliverance  from  Bondage,  142. 
Depths,  Out  of  the,  149. 
Despondency,  Spiritual,  210. 
Development,  Christian,  100. 

Elijah's  Farewell  to  Elisha,  73. 
Elisha,  The  Call  of,  71. 


Esther's  Prayer,  89. 
Even  from  Thence,  43. 
Ezekiel,  A  Vision  of,  250. 

Faith,  Hindrances  to,  it. 

Fall  of  Solomon,  The,  70. 

Fears,  196. 

Feast  of  Tabernacles,  The,  51. 

Formalist  and  the  Christian,  The, 

259. 
Friend,  The  Best,  160. 
Fulfilment  of  the   Promise,  The, 

152. 
Future,  The,  234. 

Gilead,  Balm  in,  245. 

Glory  of  the  Lord,  The,  69. 

God,  The  Care  of,  215. 

God,  The  Dwelling-place  of,  237. 

God's  Benefits,  137. 

God's  Doings  in  the  Time  of  Old, 

113. 

God's  Loving  Kindness,  225. 
God's   Message  and  Man's    Un- 
belief, 252. 
God's  Salvation,  119. 
God's  Still  Voice,  61. 
God's      Thoughts      and      Man's 

Thoughts,  231. 
God's  Word,  232. 

Harvest,  7. 

Hermon,  The  Dew  of,  151. 
High  Places,  277. 
Hope  in  God,  in. 
Hope,  Unfailing    no. 
Humility,  156. 

Ideal,  The  Lost  208. 
In  the  Way,  11. 
Isaiah's  Call,  169. 
239  U 


290                                             INDEX. 

Is  Life  Worth  Living?  124. 

Reality  of  the  Invisible,  The,  77. 

Religion  and  Science,  131. 

Jacob  at  Bethel,  18. 

Restorer  of  Years,  The,  273. 

Jacob's  Dream,  13. 

Returns,  The  Two,  165. 

Jordan,  The  Swelling  of,  246. 

Revelation,  Gradual,  189. 

Jubilee,  The  Year  of,  239. 

Sabbath,  The,  45. 

Kingdom,  The  Extension  of  the, 

Salvation,  The  Wells  of,  176. 

132. 

Sanctuary,  Help  from  the,  102. 

Satan,  The  Insinuation  of,  92. 

Leader,  Our  True,  36. 

Seeking  the  Face  of  God,  105. 

Letter,  The  Spread,  81. 

Servant,  God's,  206. 

Life,  A  Worldly,  1 79. 

Sin  and  Mercy,  205, 

Life,  The  Fountain  of,  109. 

Sojourners  with  God,  32. 

Life,  The  Transitoriness  of,  88. 

Solitude  of  Christ  in  Redemption, 

Light,  3. 

The,  104. 

Light  in  the  Clouds,  The,  99. 

Soul,  The  Dwelling-place  of  the, 

Light  of  the  Lord,  The,  167. 

52. 

Lord,   The  Coming    out  of    His 

Sound,  The  Joyful,  126. 

Place,  186. 

Spirit  of  God,  The,  2. 

Lot,  Lessons  from,  8. 

Spirit  of  God  the  Strength  of  the 

Love,  The  Strength  of,  166. 

Church,  The,  280. 

Stability,  19. 

Missions  in  the  Light  of  the  Re- 

Success in  God's  Work,  57. 

deemer's  Works,  219. 

Mockers  at  Sin,  157. 

Thoughts  of  God,  122. 

Moses,  God's  Revelation  to,  25. 

Times  and  Men,  85. 

Time  for  Thee  to  Work,  146. 

Mysterious  Providences,  19. 

Naaman,  74. 

Trouble,   Calling   upon    God    in, 
114. 

True  Aims  and  False  Aims,  67. 

Our  Father,  240. 

Trust,  The  Secret  of,  22. 

Our  Weakness  our  Strength,  66. 

Two  Prayers,  39. 

Path,  The  Untrodden,  56. 
Patriotism  and  Christianity,  268. 
Peace,  Perfect,  187. 
Peace,  The  Price  of,  174. 

Valley  of  Dry  Bones,  The,  260. 
Vanity  of  Vanities,  162. 
Vision  made  Plain,  The,  275. 

Penitence,  117^ 

Playing  the  Man,  62. 

Waiting  for  God,  185. 

Pleasing  God,  274. 

Walking  with  God,  5. 

Power  of  the  Past,  The,  79. 

Way  and  the  End,  The,  263. 

Prayer  for  a  Complete  Life,  135. 

Way  of  the  Lord,  Preparing  the, 

Prevailing  Prayer,  9. 

200. 

Promises,  Precious,  120. 

What  is  Man?  101. 

Why  will  ye  die  ?  253. 

Rab-shakeh's  Question  to  Heze- 

kiah,  80. 

Zion,  The  Way  to,  243. 

INDEX  OF  TEXTS. 


Genesis. 

PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

iii.  4  

56 

xxii.  21      

97 

i.  i     

I 

».5 

57 

xxxvii.  21 

99 

»2      

2 

xxiv.  25     

59 

»3     

3 

Psalms. 

»  27 

v.  24 

4 
5 

Ruth. 
i.  8     

60 

i- 3     

viii.  4 

100 
ior 

viii.  22       

7 
8 

xiii.  10-12 

1  Samuel. 

xxu.  2        

102 

xviii.  32     

xxii.  18      

9 
10 

iii.  10 

61 

»      "      

xxvii.  8,  9  ...     .. 

104 
105 

xxiv.  27     

11 

2  Samuel. 

xxxvi.  9     

xlii.  11        

109 
1 10 

xxviii.  12 

12 

X.  12 

62 

xliii.  5        

11 1 

xxviii.  15 

»       16 

xlii.  36       

xlix.  4        

1.  20 

13 

xliv.  1        

113 
114 

117 
119 

16 
18 

19 
22 

1  Kings. 

iii-  3-7      

»  9 

66 
67 

1.  15 

li.  16,  17   

Ixvi.  16      

Ixxi.  9        

viii.  11       

69 

121 

•  Exodus. 

xi.  11 

70 

lxxix  3       

122 

»•  9,  10     

iii.  6  

24 

xix.  19,  20,  21  ... 

7i 

»    13       

Ixxxix.  15 

124 
126 

25 

2  Kings. 

xc.  2 

131 

xxxii.  1       

28 

ii.  9    

73 
74 

en.    15         

132 

Leviticus. 

v.  1     

»  24 

135 

xxv.  23        

32 

vi.  17 

77 

ciii.  2         

137 

xiii.  20,  21 

79 
80 

cv.  24        

140 

Numbers. 

xviii.  19     

cvii.  14      

142 

vi.  24-26 

x.  29-31     

»  35-36    

Deuteronomy. 

35 
36 
39 

xix.  14       

1  Chronicles 

xii.  32        

xxix.  15     

81 

85 
88 

cxviii.  24 

cxix.  126-128  ... 

cxxx.  1-8 

cxxxiii.  3 

cxxxviii.  8 

145 
146 
149 
151 
152 

iv.  29 

v.  12 

43 
45 

Esther. 

Proverbs. 

»  22 

49 

vii.  3 

89 

ii.  10,  ii   

156 

xvi.  13-17 

5i 

1 

xiv.  19       

*57 

xxxiii.  27 

52 

Job. 

1 

xxiii.  22     

160 

Joshua. 

ii.  4    

xvii.  11      

92 
94 

ECCLESIASTES 

i-5.6-     

55 

xix.  25,  26 

95, 

i.  2,3 

162 

291 


292 


INDEX  OF   TEXTS. 


PAGE 

PAGE 

PAGE 

xi.  4 

.  163 

1.    IO 

...         2IO 

xxxiii.  30-33     ... 

259 

xii.  7 

.  165 

Ii.  1    

,,9-10      ... 

...         213 
...         214 

xxxvii/3    

260 

Song  of  Solomon. 

lii.  12 

...         215 

Daniel. 

liii.  2 

...         219 

xii.  9 

262 

xiii.  6         

.    166 

„  7 

liv.  10 

...       221 

...       225 

„    13 

263 

Isaiah. 

lv.  8 

...       23I 

HOSEA. 

ii.  5    

.   167 

„    10,  11    ... 

...       232 

ii:.  15 

266 

vi.  8 

.     169 

lvi.  12 

...       234 

xiii.  1         

268 

ix.  6 

xii.  3 

.    174 
.    176 

lvii.  15 

lix.  1  

...       237 
...       239 

Joel. 

xvii.  io,  1 1 

.    179 

lxiii.  16 

..,       24O 

ii.  25 

273 

xxv.  9        

xxvi.  20,  2 1 

.  185 

.    186 

JEREM 

AH. 

MlCAH. 

»    3         

.  187 

i-  5     

...      243 

vi.  6-8       

274 

xxviii.  10-13     •• 

.    189 

v.  10 

...      244 

Habakkuk. 

xxix.  11      

.    191 

viii.  22 

...       245 

xxxv.  4       

.     196 

xii.  5 

...      246 

ii.  2    

275 

xl.   I 

.   197 

xliv.  4 

...      248 

iii.  19        

277 

»  3-5       

xli.  10        

.     200 

.     201 

EZEKI 

EL. 

Zechariah. 

»    22        

.     205 

i.  4     

...      250 

iv.  6 

280 

xlii.  1-4     

.     206 

xx.  49 

...      252 

,,.10 

28l 

xlviii  18    

.    208 

xxxiii.  11   ... 

-      253 

xiv.  6,  7    

.267 

CHOICE    STANDARD    WORKS. 

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strikingly  practical,  and  teach  us  not  only  the  general  rule,  but  the  mode 
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neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  glossing  over  nothing,  exaggerating 
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preciators  of  true  wit,  genuine  humor,  fine  fancy,  beautiful  imagination 
and  exquisite  pathos,  he  is  a  prodigious  favorite.  Indeed,  there  is  some- 
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beauty  will  long  be  the  wonder  and  delight  of  many.  *  *  *  For 
years  I  have  been  hopefully  and  patiently  waiting  for  somebody  to  col- 
lect these  scattered  and  all  but  forgotten  articles  of  Lamb's.  *  *  * 
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CHOICE    STANDARD    WORKS. 

A  NEW  AND  SUPERIOR  LIBRARY  EDITION 

OF 

NAPIER'S  PENINSULAR  WAR. 

FROM  THE  AUTHOR'S  LAST  REVISED  EDITION. 

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This  New  and  Complete  Edition  Comprises  the 

History   of   the    War    in    the    Peninsula 

AND  IN   THE    SOUTH    OF    FRANCE,    FROM 
THE  YEAR  1807  TO  1814. 

IBy  GEN.  W.  E\  IP.  NAPIER. 

IN    5   VOLS.,    CROWN    8V0    (IN   A   NEAT  BOX). 

"  Sir  Wm.  Napier's  History  of  the  Peninsular  War  is  the  greatest 
military  work  in  the  English  language,  or  indeed  in  any  language,  not 
even  excepting  the  immortal  commentaries  of  Caesar.  General  Foy's 
*  Guerre  dans  la  Peninsule '  is  written  with  vast  ability,  but  is  so  marked 
by  national  jealousy  and  animosity,  that  it  loses  much  of  the  authority  to 
which  it  would  otherwise  be  entitled  from  the  author's  consummate 
knowledge  of  the  art  of  war,  and  his  familiarity  with  the  memorable 
scenes  and  events  he  undertakes  to  describe.  In  these  two  invaluable 
requisites  Sir  Wm.  Napier  was  fully  his  equal ;  while  he  possessed  an 
earnest  love  of  truth,  and  a  spirit  of  lofty  magnanimity,  to  which  we  find 
no  parallel  in  the  French  historian. 

"It  is  creditable  alike  to  Sir  Wm.  Napier  and  to  the  American 
people  that  in  this  country,  this  work  has  passed  THROUGH  SEV- 
ERAL EDITIONS,  THE  ONE  BEFORE  US  BEING  UNQUESTION- 
ABLY  THE  HANDSOMEST  AND  THE  MOST  COMPLETE.  To  the 
student  of  History— especially  to  him  who  loves  to  dwell  on  the  roman- 
tic character  of  Portugal  and  Spain— the  marches,  sieges,  and  bat- 
tles of  Wellington's  armies  during  six  long  years,  must  always  pos- 
sess an  interest  which  neither  the  Crimean  war,  nor  the  late  great 
struggle  in  this  country,  can  altogether  efface.  The  soldier  who  is 
devoted  to  his  profession,  and  who  seeks  great  military  principles 
and  examples  for  his  guidance,  will  pronounce  Sir  Wm.  Napier 
THE  MOST  FAITHFUL  AND  THE  MOST  COMPETENT  AUTHOR- 
ITY  TO  BE  FOUND  IN  ANY  AGE  OR  IN  ANY  C0UNTRY."-Scottism 
Amer.  Journal. 

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HENRY  BOYNTON  SMITH 

His  Life  and  Work. 


EDITED    BY    HIS    WIFE. 


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500  Pages.     Cloth,  $2.50.     {Copies  sent  by  mail, 

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This  Memoir  of  the  lamented  Prof.  Smith,  gives  a  faithful 
picture  of  his  character  and  public  career.  The  story  is  deeply  inter- 
esting, and  while  it  fully  justifies  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  most 
accomplished  scholars  and  theologians,  it  also  shows  him  to  have 
been  a  man  of  very  rare  personal  attractions.  The  volume  is  enriched 
with  recollections  of  him  by  Prof.  Park,  President  Seelye,  of  Amherst ; 
Prof.  A.  S.  Packard,  of  Bowdoin  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Withington,  Dr.  Cyrus 
Hamlin,  Prof.  Park,  of  Andover  ;  Prof.  F.  A.  March,  of  Lafayette, 
and  the  Rev.  Drs.  T.  H.  Hastings  and  M.  R.  Vincent,  of  New  York. 
Rev.  Dr.  Goodwin,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Prentiss  have 
assisted  in  the  preparation  of  the  work. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  NOTICES  OF  THE  MEMOIR. 

Philadelphia  Presbyterian  says  :  "Dr.  Smith's  life  is  here  narrated  largely  in 
his  own  language.  His  letters  are  frank,  bright,  full,  and  frequent.  These  give 
to  the  book  much  of  the  interest  of  an  autobiography — all  the  more  interesting 
because  he  did  not  consciously  compose  it." 

N.  Y.  Tribune  :  "  This  book  is  a  picture  of  a  character,  and  not  of  an  intellect 
merely— others  besides  scholars  may  profitably  read  it— the  beauty  of  Prof.  Smith's 
character  fully  answered  to  the  strength  of  his  intellect  and  the  richness  of  his 
culture— as  the  record  of  a  scholarly  career  he  had  few  equals  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic." 

N.  Y  Evangelist :  "  The  book  is  indeed  one  of  the  most  attractive  pieces  of 
religious  biography  that  we  have  ever  read.  The  character  of  the  departed  scholar 
is  outlined  with  great  delicacy  by  the  loving  hand  of  her  who  knew  him  best." 

N.  Y.  Christian  Union  :  "  This  account  of  the  man  himself  has  a  permanent 
value.  The  life  was  worthy  of  noble  monuments  and  lasting  fame,  and  no  one  can 
read  this  book  without  an  impulse  to  higher  effort  and  purer  living ;  and  this  will 
be  more  pleasing  to  the  ransomed  spirit — more  in  harmony  with  the  wishes  of  his 
life  here  than  sculptured  marbles." 

N.  Y.  Observer  :  '*  Dr.  Smith's  life  was  full  of  incident  and  adventure.  His 
education  was  splendid.  Foreign  travel  in  youth  broadened  his  view,  enlarged  his 
acquaintance  with  universities,  with  men,  books,  and  life.  The  brightest  intellects 
discerned  his  greatness.  As  a  pastor,  preacher,  teacher,  lecturer  and  professor,  as 
a  reviewer  and  editor,  he  always  made  the  mark  of  a  first  rate  workman,  doing 
everything  well.  The  loving  hand  of  the  wife  has  fitly  held  out  to  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  and  bound  up  in  this  bundle  such  evidence  of  his  greatness  and  worth,  that 
the  present  generation  and  posterity  will  know  something  of  what  the  Church  lost 
when  this  light  went  out  before  eventide." 


A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  &  SON,  714  Broadway,  New  York. 


APOLOGETICS. 

A   COURSE   OF   LECTURES 

By  Henry  B.  Smith,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Edited  by  William  S.  Karr,  D.D. 

In  one  volume,   i2mo.      Price,   $1.00.      Sent  by  mail,  post-paid,  on 
receipt  of  price. 


"  No  treatise  on  Apologetics  contains  within  the  same  narrow 
limits  so  much  material  for  the  defence  of  Christianity.  Students 
and  teachers  of  Apologetics  will  join  on  upon  the  systematizing  here 
done  for  them  by  this  able  apologete,  and  follow  out  the  lines  of 
defence  which  he  indicates.  In  this  way  it  must  prove  to  be  a  stim- 
ulating and  reproductive  work." — Presbytetian  Quarterly  Review. 

"We  cannot  commend  this  book  too  highly.  It  is  the  matured  thought  of 
one  of  our  maturest  thinkers,  on  some  of  the  most  vital  issues  of  our  day.  Believ- 
ers and  unbelievers  who  can  appreciate  clear  definition,  ponderous  thought  and 
cogent  logic,  ought  alike  to  read  this  work.  It  is  tonic  to  both  intellect  and 
faith." — N.  Y.  Examiner . 

"  No  teacher  in  this  country,  and  few  anywhere,  had  a  more  thorough 
acquaintance  with  this  large  and  abstruse  subject,  and  with  its  enormous  literature. 
His  severe  and  carefully  trained  logical  faculty,  his  cool  and  dis'passionate  judg- 
ment, his  extensive  learning,  and  his  nervous  and  transparent  style,  lend  to  this,  as 
to  all  his  other  productions,  a  profound  interest  and  a  peculiar  charm.  //  -will  be  an 
invaluable  manual,  7iot  only  to  the  professional  student,  but  to  every  thoughtful 
reader  who  seeks  to  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  man." — New  York  Tribune. 

"  Compact  and  vigorous,  characteristic  of  the  mind  and  method  of  the 
lamented  scholar  and  theologian.  The  Lectures  relate  to  the  following  funda- 
mental points  :  the  supernatural  in  general,  the  knowableness  of  the  supernatural, 
the  supernatural  in  miracles.  It  seems  to  us  that  many  intelligent  persons,  who 
have  never  been  able  to  interest  themselves  in  theological  or  metaphysical  discus- 
sions, would  nevertheless  find  much  pleasure  and  profit  in  reading  these  chapters — 
so  concise,  distinct,  natural  and  informing." — N.  Y,  Observer. 

"  They  show  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  subject  and  of  the  literature  bearing 
upon  it,  especially  that  of  more  recent  date.  Prof.  Smith  was  one  of  this  country's 
strongest  theological  thinkers." — N.  Y.  Churchman. 

"  Taken  as  a  whole,  this  is  the  best  book  of  its  kind  which  has  yet  come  from 
any  American  divine.     It  demands  and  is  worth  study." — Standard  of  the  Cross. 


A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  &  SON,  714  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK. 


Date  Due 


